A Rich Girl and A Poor Boy
by Hikarusoney
Summary: When Amelia, the daughter of the richest man in Hoenn, meets a boy named West, he convinces her to run away from home and start on her dream of becoming top co-ordinator.. Under a fake name of course. Will she succeed? Will love bloom? No more O/Cs needed
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Enter Amelia and West! A meeting of fate!**

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><p>"Papa, are you in here? Belstrom said you wanted to speak with me," A young girl whispered, walking in to her father's large office, the large wooden door squeaking its protest as she pushed it open. Her black hair stretched down past her shoulders, close to the small of her back, her piercing green eyes focused on the figure before her. The sound of her heels clicking on the floor echoed through the massive house, her long blue gown flowing like waves over the red carpet. She was followed closely by a tiny grass pokemon, Seedot, trying its best to keep up with its master.<p>

Standing at the window of the large room was a man, the girl's father, his hands behind his back. He had a commanding presence, an almost mythical power to him. It was nothing like that though. He was the owner of one of the largest companies in Hoenn, though his daughter never paid any attention to what it was he did. She spent all her time playing with pokemon.

"Yes, Amelia, I did. The arrangements have all been made," Her father told her, stepping away from the window to look at her. Amelia hid all her hurt and anger behind a stone cold expression, like she always did. Neither of her parents had picked up on it yet. "You'll be leaving for Unova in the next few days."

"Papa, I really wish you would reconsider. I don't under stand why I have to marry just so you ca-" Amelia started to protest, but her father quickly cut her off just by raising his hand, the twelve year old biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anymore. It was how things worked around her house. She blindly obeyed her father, just so he could keep his company alive.

"We've been over this. Your marriage to Louis would guarantee both our companies success. Our family, the Azures, and his family, the Pints, would be secure for the next three generations. Do not disappoint me, Amelia." Her father frowned, turning his back on his daughter, giving her the silent gesture to leave.

"Of course not. Please, excuse my behavior." She bowed, her eyes narrowed into sharp points. She spun on her heel and walked back out of the room, her pokemon jumping before running to keep up. Amelia fumed as she walked down the hallway, but her face didn't show it. She had turned back into stone, at least until she got to her room.

As soon as she closed her door, she let it out. She screamed and grabbed a lamp off of her desk, whipping it over at the wall, the metal breaking apart and falling against the floor. "That foul, foul man! What right does he have to just marry me off like that? It's obscene! Foul! Disgusting! I'm his daughter, not some bargaining chip! I don't want to move to Unova, and I certainly don't want to marry a pompous puffball like Louis Pint!"

"See, Seedot!" The grass pokemon called out, jumping on her bed and bouncing up and down to get her attention. Seedot already knew the drill when Amelia became angry. It had to distract her from whatever it was that had upset her. There was really only one way to do that. Seedot ran over to a spot on the bed were the sun was shining on it, turning to look at Amelia.

Seedot's body let out a faint glow before four mini suns appeared around it, spinning around the pokemon slowly. The four suns formed a ring of radiant light around it, actually lifting the young pokemon up off the bed and into the air. Seedot called out its name to catch her attention and Amelia looked up from her rage, a faint smile starting to make its way onto her face.

"Well, aren't you pretty Seedot? Is that nature power?" She giggled, Seedot crying out happily, its feet waving wildly into the air. Amelia took her pokemon out from the air, the four suns bursting, illuminating the room with jewels of light. Amelia turned in place, her eyes and mouth open as she gazed at them. Her Seedot was capable of creating such beautiful moves."You and I would do so well in contests, wouldn't we? It's such a shame.. I would have liked the chance to take part."

Amelia placed her partner down on her bed, leaving it there as she stripped off her gown. She really only wore it when she was meeting with her father, if not, she wore her normal clothes. Her long hair was tied up in a pony tail, the light shining off of it, lighting up her pale skin. She traded her dress for a white shirt, black cardigan and black skirt that stretched halfway to her knees. She wore a pair of black leggings underneath that, covering up to her shins.

"I feel like going out to the garden. It's always lovely around this time. Will you accompany me, Seedot?" She asked, Seedot already heading out the door as soon as the word garden had passed her lips. Amelia smiled and followed her best friend through the halls and out into her favorite place.

Amelia's garden was a spot where all sorts of pokemon loved to gather, due to the sheer amount of berries that grew in it. Amelia could spend hours there, just taking in the breath taking scents of the garden. She had spent many an hour in her life playing with all the pokemon. She had actually met Seedot in this very garden.

The garden was made up of ten rows of assorted flowers and berries, Amelia completely clueless as to what their names were, but she loved them either way. She didn't need to know their names to see their beauty.

The sun was shining down on all the plants and the pokemon were starting to flock towards them. A flock of Swablu flew in, their fluffy wings blending in with the clouds in the sky. Some Zigzagoon had began to munch on the berries that had fallen to the dirt, calling out happily. Seedot ran on ahead and started eating as well, waving its whole body to say hello to the other pokemon.

Amelia smiled as she sat on a stone bench, watching the pokemon play. This was how she wished she could spend her life. She wanted to relax and just be with pokemon. She wanted to be the kind of girl that could leave her own house. She didn't want to be forced to marry someone she had no interest in being with. She wanted to fall in love the right way, by meeting the man that would sweep her off of her feet and whisk her away. The one that loved her and not her money.

She wanted to be a Pokemon Coordinator. She loved the beautiful side of the wonderful creatures known as pokemon, bringing out the very best in her own, showing their appeal and cuteness to all those watching. She loved those moments when her pokemon turned their attacks into art, the looks on people's faces when they saw a truly exquisite move.

Amelia was snapped out of her trance by the sound of something snapping at the far end of the garden, followed by a sharp grunt of pain. The pokemon all looked around confused, some of them looking nervous. Amelia darted past them, quickly calming them before heading down one of the rows of wildlife.

At the end of the row was a boy laying in a chunk of broken fence, holding a small blue pokemon to his chest. The boy looked to be about the same age as Amelia, his eyes closed tight in pain. Bits of twigs and leaves were stuck in his mahogany hair and his shirt was torn, ripped apart by something with claws.

"Um, excuse me? Are you alright?" Amelia whispered, trying her best to not freak out. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute, a loud ringing in her ears. This was the first time something like this had ever happened to her. She had never met someone that hadn't been involved with her father before.

After waiting about a minute for an answer, Amelia kneeled down in front of the boy. She reached out, brushing his hair out from his face, tilting her head at him. Apart from a few bruises on his face, the boy was actually very cute. Amelia actually felt her cheeks starting to heat up as she stared at him, taking in his features. For a twelve year old, he had a fairly sharp jaw, but his nose wasn't. He had one of those cute button noses that everyone went on about. His lips were chapped and dry, like he hadn't drank in a while. Amelia was about to touch them when they suddenly sprang to life, the young girl taking in a quick breath.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer," The boy said, his grey eyes staring right up at her. Amelia gasped out and quickly scooted backwards, using her bangs to cover the blush on her face. The blush only lasted for a bout a second before her face stoned over again, hiding all emotion.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She demanded, the boy sitting up slowly, brushing himself off. If there was anything that Amelia was good at, it was faking being calm. She had to do it with her father all the time.

"My name's West. I was being chased by an angry Vigoroth, so I ran for the closest building. That was when your fence introduced itself to my head." He told her, turning his attention to the pokemon in his hands. "Are you okay, Mudkip?"

"Just because you were being attacked doesn't mean you can just come barging in here unannounced," Amelia frowned, folding her arms over her chest. West looked up at her, shoving the injured pokemon in her face.

"Does this do it for you? My friend here is hurt, bad. Please, just let us inside so I can take care of it!" West snapped at her, cradling the Mudkip close to his chest. The mud fish pokemon was obviously in pain, sweat breaking out on its forehead, a nasty series of bruises covering its body.

"We can't go inside. My father wouldn't allow it, but I'm sure I can treat your friend out here. There must be something in the garden that we can use to help him," Amelia said, her voice quiet. She wasn't used to someone yelling at her like that. She wasn't used to talking to people her own age period.

"Well, get to looking then. If you can't find anything, I don't care what your father says, I'm going inside that house."

"You know, you have a very poor attitude for someone asking for help." Amelia frowned before turning away from him, stomping off into the garden. Was that how all people her age behaved? He was so, so rude!

After walking through the garden for about ten minutes, she found what she was looking for. A bushel of sitrus berries, ripe for the picking. A couple of these would be sure to heal that Mudkip, and then West would be on his way out of her life.

As she reached for the berries, something suddenly lashed out at her hand. Amelia gasped out in pain, pulling her hand back close to her, gripping it tight to her chest. "What on earth was that?" She tried grabbing the berries again, but whatever was in the bush scratched at her palm for the second time, drawing blood.

That was when the Vigoroth jumped out of the plant life, screeching like a wild animal. Amelia was knocked onto her back, eyes wide at the monkey pokemon, her lip trembling in fear. She screamed as the Vigoroth took another swipe at her, ripping some of the fabric on her cardigan's sleeve.

"Leave me alone, leave me alone!" She cried, trying to fight off tears as the pokemon's claws got dangerously close to her skin. "Someone please, help me!"

Her Seedot suddenly rammed its full weight into the Vigoroth, knocking it on to its back. Amelia stared in shock as her tiny pokemon stood its ground against a pokemon over twice its size, ramming itself into it over and over again. "Seedot, stop! You'll only make it worse!" The Vigoroth backhanded the tiny seed pokemon, sending it flying backwards into the dirt, skidding before going still. "Seedot!"

"God, you're useless!" West said, standing with his legs against her back. Amelia looked up at him slowly, tears finally spilling over. She was really glad to see him, but she had no idea why. It must have been because he was the only one who had heard her. That was it. His Mudkip was nowhere to be seen, but he was holding something else in his hands. A red and white ball.

"What is that?" Amelia asked, trying her best not to let her voice crack, but it did anyway.

"It's a pokeball. I wanted to get through this without a fight, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Numel, let's do it!" He called out, a small yellow camel pokemon appearing on the ground in front of her from a burst of white light. Its dopey eyes were focused on the Vigoroth, flames slipping out of its nostrils every time it took a breath. "Numel, use take down!"

This was the first pokemon battle that Amelia had ever seen, other than on the television. Numel's head shone a bright orange before the fire type drove it into Vigoroth's stomach, knocking it backwards into a nearby bush. Vigoroth hit the ground hard, bouncing a couple times. The Vigoroth quickly stood back up, lunging at Numel and slashing at it over and over. Numel dodged all of the blows expertly, bouncing off of the wild monkey pokemon's head and hanging in the air above it.

"Now, Numel, use ember!" Numel cried out its name before launching a small jet of flame into the Vigoroth's back, knocking it face down onto the ground. Amelia watched in wonder as the two pokemon battled, having never been a part of something like this before. She was caught between a trainer and a wild pokemon. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time.

Amelia suddenly remembered her Seedot, scrambling over to the small pokemon, lifting it up into her arms. "You poor thing.." She cooed it, rubbing the top of its shell affectionately. Seedot groaned its name weakly, Amelia biting her lip with guilt. This was her fault.

"Numel!" West yelled, his pokemon crashing hard into the soil, kicking up a cloud of dirt. The Vigoroth howled angrily, pounding its fists against its chest over and over again. Numel stood up slowly, brushing itself off as best as it could. "Come on Numel, hit it with another take down!"

"Wait a second!" Amelia yelled, West's pokemon skidding to a stop. West turned to her, a sharp glare on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Amelia held up a hand to quiet him, taking a few steps towards the Vigoroth. The monkey pokemon howled out at her, lashing another claw out. The attack sliced her cheek, a small stream of blood seeping out of it slowly.

"You were looking for food weren't you?" She asked it, pulling a sitrus berry off of the bush. She held it up to the normal type slowly, the pokemon tilting its head before taking it, popping it into is mouth. "Let me guess, it attacked you while you were eating lunch?"

"Yeah, it did. How did you figure that out?" West asked, impressed. An angry Vigoroth wasn't an easy thing to calm down. The pokemon waved before running off, jumping over the garden fence.

"It was hiding in the sitrus bush and attacked me whenever I tried to take a berry. I figured it had to have been hungry and was just defending what it thought was its territory."

"For a rich girl, you're pretty smart," West said, earning himself a steely glare. He just smirked and walked over to the bush, taking a couple of the berries off of it. "This should be enough to fix up my Mudkip, so I'm going to be on my way. You should come with me."

"Huh? Come with you? But.. I can't leave my house. I'm going to be moving in a few days and then.. Get married. It's all been decided, I don't have time to travel."

"Is that what you want? Because you don't sound so sure."

"It doesn't matter what I want. It's what my father wants. It doesn't matter if I want to be a part of Pokemon contests or not, my father has decided I'll get married."

"Well, I've decided you're coming with me." This made Amelia blink, turning to look at West with a blush on her face. What was with this boy? Did he really want her around that much? Or.. Was it because of how she had handled the Vigoroth?

"I.. I can't!"

"Can't? Or won't? I'm going to be back tonight at midnight. If you want to come with me, meet me right here. I'll see you then." Amelia didn't even have time to protest as West jumped over the fence, disappearing. The girl just stood there, completely confused. What was she supposed to do now?

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><p>"Come on, rich girl. Where are you?" West asked, tapping his foot impatiently. He had told her he was coming at midnight, so she should have been here. Was she really going to just stay here and live the life her parents wanted her to?<p>

He had seen how well she could bond with pokemon. Her Seedot had risked its life to defend her, she had managed to calm down that Vigoroth, she had even figured out what was wrong with it. She was meant to be with pokemon, not sit on her butt with some arranged fiance.

"West?" A voice whispered and Amelia stood at her back door, dressed the same way she had been earlier. She had already managed to fix the fabric that had been torn, the cardigan looking brand new. She had a messenger bag draped over her shoulder, along with six pokeballs.

"Where did you get those?" He asked her, referring to the balls. She blushed and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, pointing a finger inside.

"I kinda.. Stole them from my dad. I've only got two pokemon with me right now though, Seedot and Elektrike, so I don't know how much of a help I'll be."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just happy to have the company." West smiled, Amelia's face turning a bright red. Why was she doing this? He was just being nice to her. It was nothing more than that.

"Let's get going. I don't want my father to realize I'm gone before I even leave." So the two took off, Amelia grabbing West's hand and pulling him out of the garden. "Bye everyone.." She whispered sadly but quickly shook it off. She was starting a brand new life.

"What's your name anyways? I told you mine, so tell me yours."

"Am-.. It's Melanie. My name is Melanie." Amelia told him, biting her bottom lip. If someone found out who she was, they could easily contact her father and he would take her back. It was best to use a fake name.

"Well then Mel, I think you and I are going to have some good times together. But first, we need to get you to your first contest!" And with that, the two ran off along the dirt path, the only thing lighting their way being the moon.

Amelia was finally free.

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><p><strong>AN: So, this is going to be my first contest fic. Hopefully it turns out pretty well. Please though, remember to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Three Pokemon Requirement! Finding Amelia a brand new friend!**

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><p>"Come on, Mel! You can run faster than that, can't you?" West yelled back at Amelia from on top of a hill, folding his arms as he watched her run. It had been a week since the two of them had left her house in Rustboro City, leaving that and her old life behind them. Amelia stood about halfway up the hill, panting hard as she tried to make her way up it. She had never been an athletic person so keeping up with West? More than difficult.<p>

"Just because you're a freak of nature doesn't mean I have to be! One of us is human you know!" She yelled at him, only earning a laugh. She pouted as she made her way up to the top, resting an arm against West's shoulder as she caught her breath. "Are we.. There yet..?"

"Yep. Melanie, welcome to Petalburg city!" West exclaimed, waving his hand as if he was a host on a game show as he showed her a bustling city beneath her. Amelia felt a pang of guilt when he called her Melanie, but she shook it off. She had to ignore it, telling him her real name would be too risky. She had no idea what her fathers workers would do to him if they caught him, but she knew that West would be put through a lot of pain. She didn't want that. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

"Is that big building there.. Is that where they're holding the contest?" She asked, West looking over at it. In the center of the city was a large dome shaped building with a pokeball painted on the front of it.

"Uh huh. It's huge, so it doubles as the gym and the contest hall, when the coordinators need it. You excited for this?" He asked, but the look on her face told him everything that he needed to know. On her face was the widest smile he had ever seen. She looked so different than when he had met her. A week ago, she was a girl that was being forced to marry someone to make her father happy. Now? She was living her life for herself and no one else.

"I want to go look! Come on!" She squealed, grabbing the brown haired boy and pulling him off towards the hall. West stumbled before straightening himself up, running along side her. Her ponytail bounced up and down as she ran, the sun overhead giving her alabaster skin a shine.

After a few minutes of running they made it to the dome, blinking when they saw a slap of paper on the door. West reached for it as Amelia was too busy trying to feed oxygen back into her lungs.

"Hey, Rich Girl. How many pokemon do you have on you?" He asked, Amelia quickly taking the paper from him.

"A three pokemon minimum? That's not fair!" Amelia complained, stomping her foot on the floor for good measure. She threw the paper on the floor, practically steaming from her ears.

"Hey, easy there, spitfire. We have another three days until the contest starts, right? Well, why don't we just go and catch you another pokemon?" West told her, holding her arms down against her sides in an attempt to calm her down. Amelia blushed before pulling out of his grip, nodding in defeat. "Good. There should be a spot nearby to catch them."

Amelia followed him out of the city, towards a much greener area. The area was teeming with life, so much so that it reminded Amelia of her garden back home. She actually felt a little homesick now. She missed the smell of the garden, and all of the pokemon that she was friends with.

"What kind of pokemon are you planning on looking for?" West asked her, deciding to let all of his pokemon out to enjoy the fresh air. His Mudkip and Numel popped out, along with two pokemon that Amelia had never seen before. One was a small metallic pokemon with three sharp points on the end of its body, a round head sticking out of the other end. His other pokemon was much larger than the others, with white fur covering most of its dark body, a large horn sticking out of its head.

"Hopefully something a bit cuter than what you have. Other than Mudkip, all your pokemon are kinda scary looking. What are those two?" She asked, sending out her own pokemon to play. Seedot blinked when it saw the large white pokemon, her Elektrike quickly standing between them almost like it was protecting Seedot.

"I prefer to go for the intimidating type. These are Absol and Beldum, two of my strongest pokemon. Without Absol, I think I would have lost a lot more battles than I won."

"Why didn't you use Absol against the Vigoroth?" Amelia asked him, his only answer being a shrug. It seemed like that was all she was getting from him, so she gave up on trying to find out. Absol and Elektrike were in each others faces, growling and snarling, clawing at the dirt. They looked like they were ready to go at it.

"You can't really say anything about having an intimidating pokemon. Elektrike can be pretty scary, just as scary as Absol." West told her, pulling his pokemon away from hers as best as he could.

"Elektrike, intimidating? What are you talking about, it's the cutest thing alive!" She gasped, offended at his lack of love for her pokemon. She took the small electric type into her arms, running her hand through its hair. Elektrike instantly relaxed, practically melting into its trainers arms.

West was about to say something when a squeal cut him off, Amelia running over to a nearby pond. On the surface of it was a small bug type pokemon skating around on the top of the water. It moved seamlessly, barely creating more than a ripple on the water.

"Look at it, it's so cute!" Amelia giggled, West sighing before face palming. She wanted to catch a Surskit? Sure, it could be okay for contests but if she had to use it in the battle portion of the competition, it could end badly. Besides, catching something that was cute and had power would be better for her. It was the one she seemed interested in though, so he had to help her.

"You do know how to catch a pokemon, right? You have to battle it first," West told her, Amelia sticking her tongue out at him in response.

"Of course I know that! I'm not a total idiot." She pouted, taking a few steps forward. She placed Elektrike down on the ground, the small pokemon looking up at her, its head tilted in confusion. "Don't worry, this won't be too bad. We're just going to have a battle!" Amelia placed her hand to her chest, doing her best co calm her breathing. She shouldn't have been so scared by this. She had practiced this for days on end.

She spun quickly, reaching back and pulling the elastic out of her hair that held it in its pony tail. Her black skirt ruffled in the wind as she slowed to a stop, pointing her fingers forward almost like a gun. She closed one eye and pointed her finger at the surskit, her next words ringing through the air."Bang! Elektrike, thunder wave if you please!"

Elektrike howled, its whole body lighting up with blue sparks. The tiny pokemon fired off a jagged bolt into the water, the Surskit crying out in pain as the volts shocked its tiny body. The small pokemon slumped over in the water, tiny bolts of blue electricity flashing over its body.

"That was easy. Now, pokeball, go!" Amelia grabbed one of the pokeballs off of her messenger bag, inflating it in her hand. She spun her arm like a windmill to gain momentum, then threw the ball towards the paralyzed pokemon. "Come on!"

A jet of water suddenly shot out from the pond, knocking the pokeball almost twenty feet away from its intended target and right into West's face. He let out a startled cry before falling right onto his backside, a bruise already starting to form on his nose.

"Ow, ow, ow! What the hell?" West complained, gripping his injured schnoz tightly. "What did that?"

"I don't know!" Amelia whined, stomping her feet a few times. That wasn't fair. She was going to catch that surskit without cheating, completely fair! What had stopped her?

The answer to her question came in the form of a tiny round, blue pokemon. It had a jagged black tail with a blue ball on the end, and very, very angry eyes. Amelia felt slightly taken back when she was given the glare, instantly feeling guilty. That pond was this pokemon's home, and she had lit it up like a festival.

"Oh crap, I didn't know there was a marill living here!" West frowned, standing up slowly. He picked Amelia's pokeball up off the ground, brushed the dust off of it, and handed it back to her. "I say you try and catch that instead. It's as cute as a surskit, but a lot more powerful."

"Marill.. It even has a cute name. Okay, I'm going to try it! Elektrike, quick attack please!" Elektrike snarled before darting forward, a trail of white light following it as it closed in on the marill. The water mouse pokemon created a white ball in its mouth before firing it off, three jagged white lines heading right towards Elektrike.

"Elektrike, substitute!" The ice beam hit Elektrike dead on, completely freezing it over into an ice statue. Elektrike was the picture of power, with sharp fangs and narrowed eyes. The sun hitting it shone off in a million different directions, illuminating the battlefield and the nearby pond. West sucked in a breath as he watched, quickly shifting his gaze over to Amelia. She had used substitute on purpose in order to make the statue. All this was just a practice for contests.

And that was when Elektrike descended from the sky, ramming itself into the marill at top speed. The aquatic pokemon was knocked onto its back, skidding a few feet before jumping back up. Elektrike wobbled slightly, sucking in breath with quick pants. Substitute was a move that cut the pokemon's health down by a quarter. It was good for a short battle, but Elektrike and Marill seemed pretty evenly matched.

"I definitely want this marill.. Partnered with Elektrike, they could create some beautiful combinations," Amelia whispered, looking down at her Elektrike. "Can you keep battling?" Elektrike barked its approval, nodding its head a few times.

The marill curled itself up in a ball suddenly, spinning wildly and ramming hard into Elektrike. The electric type was thrown off its feet and into the air, skidding along the dirt before slowing to a stop. Marill uncurled itself to check where Elektrike was before curling back up again, making a second charge.

"Elektrike, spark net!" Amelia called out, her pokemon jumping back up to its feet. A veil of electricity covered its body, and it suddenly darted backwards towards two trees. Elektrike bounced off the trunks, the electricity on its body attaching itself to the wood. Combing spark with quick attack, Elektrike created line over line over electricity, landing behind it when it was finished. It looked almost like a spider's web, only the lines looked more like exploding power cords.

The marill hit the net full force, every single volt of electricity hitting its body at once. The water mouse was thrown backwards, steam stretching upwards from its blue skin. It tried to push itself back up to its feet, but only fell back against the ground. She gripped the pokeball tightly, spinning her arm again and whipped it at the pokemon. Marill vanished in a red beam of light, the pokeball landing on the ground.

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three shakes.

DING.

"Ding? What does the ding mean?" Amelia asked, staring at the pokeball. West laughed, walked over to it and picked it up off the ground.

"It means.. Congratulations. You have a marill." West grinned, handing the red and white ball to her. Amelia's eyes widened, her breath caught in her throat, her heart was beating a thousand beats a minute.

Then she jumped up into the air, whooping out loud and fist pumping. "I did it! I caught myself a marill!" She landed and rubbed the pokeball up against her cheek, giggling all the while.

"You're pretty excitable for a rich girl. It's nice to see," West teased, Amelia's face heating up. She turned and stuck her tongue out at him again, closing her eyes tight.

"And you're a neanderthal!"

"What's a neanderthal?"

"Point proven," Amelia giggled before returning her Elektrike into its pokeball. "I've got alot of work to do.. Three days of training for the contest and my first win. I'm so excited!"

"I'm happy for you, Melanie. Seriously. A week ago you were just a yes girl, but now? You're working for your dream. I'm really happy for you." West smiled, rubbing the back of his head, obviously embarrassed by showing heavy emotion. Amelia's face turned a bright red before she looked away from him, using her hair to cover her face again.

"Th-thanks. You know, you've never told me your reason for travelling. Are you taking the gym challenge?" She asked, then instantly wished she hadn't. West's face steeled over, his eyes going from bright and happy to cold and angry.

"I'm looking for someone. He stole something very important to my family, and I'm trying to get it back. That's all you need to know, for now." And that was the end of the conversation. It was also the last thing West said for the entire day. It left Amelia wondering.. Who exactly was West? She barely knew anything about him and yet she was travelling with him. She had to know more.

But first, the contest.

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so, no OCs for this chapter but don't worry, they're all going to be coming very soon. :D Please, review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Petalburg Contest! Enter Devin Powell and Fay Jayston!**

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><p>"Okay, you're nearly registered, now all we need is your name," A woman behind the counter asked, typing away at her keyboard. Amelia stood there with West, the black haired girl bouncing up and down with excitement. She couldn't believe that she was finally here, registering for her contest pass.<p>

"Of course. My name is Melanie Airheart." The woman typed it in to the computer and there was a loud ding, a small plastic card sliding out of the computer. Amelia took the pass and held it close to her chest, about to explode with happiness. "I can't believe I've finally got it!"

"Today's contest starts soon, so you should head into the dressing room," West told her, pointing to the door at the end of the foyer. Amelia then did something neither of them were really expecting. She wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him into a tight hug. West's face turned a bright red, eyes wide with confusion before slowly hugging back, giving in.

"Thank you, West. For.. Everything," She whispered, tightening her grip around him. West was probably one of the most important people in her world. He had gotten her out of her comfort zone and into the real world, and now she was living her dream because of it. West was almost like an angel who was sent to make sure she lived her life for herself and not for her father. She owed him so much and she couldn't do anything for him. She was even lying to him every single day.

"N-no problem, I guess... You should get going, or you're going to be late." Amelia pulled away from him slowly, nodding and running off without another word into the dressing room with a bright blush on her face. West just stood there, gripping his chest, trying to get his heart to slow down. Why had she done that?

"Are you going to be taking part in today's contest as well, sir?" The woman asked, snapping West back into the real world.

"Oh no, I just want a ticket to watch. I'm her cheerleader." West smiled, pulling out his wallet and taking 1000 poke out of it. The woman gave him a funny look before mumbling something about young love, which made West's face turn as red as a tomato.

"I need your name as well for your ticket, Mr..?"

"West. West Birch."

* * *

><p>"Oh my gosh.." Amelia whispered, looking at the room around her. It was filled to the brim with coordinators and their pokemon, most of them looking alot stronger than her own. She even saw what looked to be a Haunter on the far side of the room. She couldn't help but wonder how someone was planning on turning that into something beautiful, considering how terrifying a Haunter could be.<p>

"Guess I should send out my own pokemon," And she pulled her pokeballs off of her bag, popping them all open. Seedot, Marill, and Elektrike all appeared in front of her, taking in their new surroundings. Seedot bounced up and down excitedly, Marill and Elektrike laughing as they watched it. Amelia smiled and sat down on a bench, looking through her bag for the dress she had packed. She lifted it up out of her bag, blinking when she dropped it. Why were her hands shaking so much?

"Am I.. Scared?" She whispered, doing her best to shake it off, but her hands kept on trembling. A panic was starting to rise in her chest, the thought of all those people watching her.. What if she screwed up? What if she lost? Those two thoughts were terrifying her. "I-I can't.. I can't do this.."

"Excuse me.. Are you alright?" Amelia blinked and looked up, a much taller boy standing over her. His head was tilted to the right, big green eyes watching her. His hair was tucked underneath a white fedora, but by what she could see of it, it was a silver color, even though he looked to be the same age as her, maybe a little older. He wore clothes that a teenager wouldn't usually wear, a black button up shirt and black jeans. Was he trying to make himself look more mature? Maybe that was why he was wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses as well..

"Y-Yes, I'm fine," Amelia stuttered, the boy frowning at her. She could tell he didn't believe her, but it didn't matter. He was definitely her competition, so why bother explaining why she was scared?

"You don't seem fine. Is this your first contest?" He asked, taking a seat next to her. Amelia felt a little uneasy that he hadn't even asked, but maybe average people didn't have to. Maybe they just sat next to others and started talking to them.

"S-so what if it is?" She answered, doing her best to sound intimidating. She even lowered her voice an octave to make it seem more threatening, but all she got out of the boy was a snicker.

"No wonder you're so scared. Newbies tend to be their first time out. My name's Devin, by the way," He introduced himself, watching her with big blue eyes. That was funny, she could have sworn they were green before..

"M-Melanie Airheart. So.. This isn't your first contest?" She asked, eyes quickly scanning him. She couldn't tell anything about this boy, other than the fact he liked to poke fun at people.

"Nope, this is my fourth. Check it out," He pulled out a small black case, snapping it open. Inside were three ribbons of various shapes, colors and sizes. Just looking at them made Amelia feel excited. "Three ribbons, and I'm gonna be scoring my fourth today. Don't get your hopes up about winning, fresh meat."

"Oh yeah? Get ready, cuz today's going to be your first loss, Devin," Amelia glared at him, definitely taking his gloating to be a challenge. She was used to being treated like royalty, so someone looking down on her was not going to fly.

"Bring it on." He smirked at her, sparks flashing between the two's eyes. Everyone in the room backed away from them, giving them a space of about ten feet. Amelia's pokemon moved between the two coordinators, trying to push them apart. The last thing anyone needed was a fight to break out in the dressing room.

And that was when Devin's shadow practically exploded, a Haunter popping out and screeching like a wild animal. Amelia squealed and fell off the bench, her limbs a flailing mess. Devin stared at her before bursting out laughing, his hands gripping his sides as he did. Amelia sat up slowly, tears in her eyes and her hair like a tumbleweed.

"That was NOT funny!" She snapped at him, her voice cracking when she did, which only made Devin laugh harder. He fell onto his back, his eyes watering from laughing too hard. "Stop laughing!"

"Y-You're pretty funny, fresh meat," He forced out when he was finally finished laughing, his voice hoarse. He wiped his eyes off, small giggles still finding their way past his lips. That was when a loud speaker boomed..

**DEVIN POWELL, PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE. DEVIN POWELL, PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE.**

"Looks like I'm up. Watch how the pros do things, fresh meat." Devin smirked, standing up and walking out the main door, his Haunter vanishing back into his shadow. Amelia watched him leave, starting to pat her hair back into places.

"What a.. Foul boy," Amelia fumed, but she ended up watching the television screen they had set up in the dressing room. She watched as Devin stepped froward, tilting his cap down as he walked onto the stage.

"Time to shine. M, Ryder, up and at 'em!" He yelled out, one of the pokeballs on his belt exploding. There was a veil of stars covering the pokemon that appeared from it, a beige colored Togetic flying high into the air. His Haunter erupted from his shadow once again, flying up after the small fairy pokemon. With a quick slash of its hands, the stars burst into shards of light, raining down over the two pokemon.

"An amazing entrance by Togetic and Haunter! I can't wait to see what else Devin's got up his sleeve! He's never disappointed us before, and it doesn't seem like he's going to now!" The announcer yelled out, her voice echoing through the hall.

"Now, Ryder, use future sight!" The togetic's eyes flashed blue for a second before dimming down, leaving the audience murmuring, wondering about what happened. "M, show 'em what you got with shadow punch!" M, his Haunter, began spinning in circles, speeding straight upwards. It unleashed a barrage of black punches in to the air, all of them speeding towards the ceiling with the speed of a jet. The crowd watched, eyes wide, trying to follow them.

"Ryder, psychic!" His togetic flew up into the center of the shadow punches, matching their speed with ease. It's body was then covered with a veil of blue light, the tiny pokemon crying its name out loudly as the punches were covered with the same veil, screeching to a sudden halt. "M, shadow ball, right at Ryder!" M created a large black ball in its hands, firing it right towards the tiny pokemon, the air whistling like an angry train around it.

"Now, Ryder.. Catch the shadow ball and knock my block off with it," Devin ordered, a blue light covering the shadow ball, Ryder's eyes narrowed tightly as it kept all the other fists in place. The black ball fired towards Devin, his blue eyes focused right on it. Everyone leaned forwards in their seats, watching him. How could he be so calm when such a powerful attack was coming right at him?

Easy. He knew exactly when the future sight was going to hit. The shadow ball was suddenly squished down, like a Greek discus, then exploded less than a foot from Devin's head. The wind from the eruption blew his hat clean off his head, sending it spinning up into the air. "M, shadow sneak!" M suddenly vanished into Ryder's shadow, stretching it like a black snake across the floor. It quickly climbed the walls and shot out of it, grabbing his fedora and planting it firmly on its head.

"Ryder, get rid of those other shadow punches for me, please?" Devin called out, his togetic tightening its focus on the fists. They shattered into sparkling black and blue gems, falling to the floor like crystallized rain. M and Ryder hovered in the middle, back to back, arms folded across their chest. "Aaaaaand.. Scene." Devin bowed, rolling his hand a few times. The crowd burst into applause, screaming and clapping as they looked down at him.

"Another brilliant display by Devin! Using polar opposites to show off each types grace and power, absolutely incredible!" The announcer screamed, her voice struggling to compete with the roaring crowd. Devin bowed once again before turning and walking back into the change rooms, giving Amelia a look that said, _Good luck following that. _Amelia felt her blood boil as soon as he looked at her, turning her head away. She had to admit, he had pulled off an awesome performance.. But Marill and Seedot were going to beat it.

"Hey! Excuse me, is this your Seedot?" Amelia blinked, a girl with brown hair leaning over her shoulder. Amelia scooted away at how close she was, but the girl didn't seem to care. Or maybe she just didn't notice. Her hazel eyes blinked in question, tilting her head to the left, her bangs hanging off the side of her head. There were a pair of jean shorts and a yellow button up, short sleeved shirt on the bench behind her, which Amelia took to be her normal clothes. Instead, she was wearing a red, V-necked dress that stretched down to her knees.

"Huh? Um, yeah, it is," Amelia answered, the girl jumping over the bench and plopping down next to her. The girl picked up her Seedot, snuggling close to it, Amelia's pokemon purring and nuzzling back against her.

"How long have you had it?" She asked, smiling a dazzling smile at her.

"Close to.. Four years now, I guess?" Amelia told her, placing a finger to her chin in thought. She couldn't quite remember exactly how long she'd had Seedot.

"I can tell it's been a long time. This Seedot's really big.. It's definitely going to evolve soon." The girl pointed out, lifting up Seedot as if to emphasize her point. Amelia took her pokemon back out of the girls arms, giggling and squeezing it lovingly.

"Hooray! I can't wait Seedot, you're gonna get so big and strong!" Amelia smiled, the girl reaching over and petting the top of its head again.

**FAY JAYSTON, PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE. FAY JAYSTON, PLEASE TAKE THE** **STAGE.**

"That's me! Bye bye~" And with that, she ran away from Amelia and onto the stage. Amelia turned to watch her, shifting nervously in her seat. She had to wonder if she was just as good as Devin. Fay waved to the crowd, blowing kisses all over the place, and they all cheered. They loved her.

"Snorunt, Vulpix, dazzle them!" She sang, pulling two pokeballs out and throwing them up into the air. A small red fox-like pokemon appeared in front of her, followed by a pokemon that looked like it was wearing a multi-colored parka. The vulpix shot a burst of flame from its mouth, while the snorunt countered with a blast of cold air, the two attacks spinning in a circle around the pokemon before exploding outwards, coating the floor with a thin layer of ice and fire.

"Vulpix, jump over there and use flamethrower on Snorunt!" The small pokemon jumped backwards, landing a good twenty feet away from the ice type. It shot a huge jet of flame from its mouth, the heat from it scorching the tile floor. "Snorunt, spin and use blizzard," The snorunt grunted and spun in a circle, snow and ice firing out of its mouth. It wrapped around the ice type like a cocoon, the suction of the cold tornado pulling in the flames as soon as it reached it. The flames joined the snow in their dance, completely concealing Snorunt from view.

"Now, protect," The cocoon suddenly burst apart, the flames and ice mixing together before vanishing into a water vapor, the green light from the protect giving the whole room an emerald shine through the mist. "Now, Snorunt, ice shard straight up at the ceiling." Snorunt tilted its head toward the roof, creating a jagged piece of ice in its mouth before firing it upwards.

"Vulpix, do a back flip and use fire blast!" Vulpix did as it was told, a huge five pointed blast of fire following after the ice shard. From the spin, the fire seemed to curve towards the center, enclosing around the ice shard like a cage. The two attacks hung suspended in midair, the light from the fire reflecting through the ice, creating close to a disco ball effect around the hall. The fire suddenly collapsed inward, the melted ice creating a rain towards the ground.

"Finally, icy wind!" Snorunt shot a huge burst of cold air from its mouth, all the drops of water freezing over, the trails leading all the way up to the ceiling. The two pokemon landed next to each other, Vulpix bowing and Snorunt giving a curtsie. Fay curtsied the same as her snorunt, standing in the center of stalactites made of pure ice.

"I hope you all enjoyed it~" Fay winked at the crowd, earning herself another thunderous applause. The crowd was going nuts as they danced in their seats, Fay milking the applause and bowing over and over. She waved and quickly made her way into the dressing room, winking at a drop-jawed Amelia. "I'm pretty sure you're up next.. What's your name?"

"Melanie.. Melanie Airheart," Amelia whispered, completely taken back. This girl was definitely good at what she did. As good as Devin, maybe better. She quickly turned her attention back to getting dressed, her pokemon all back in their pokeballs. She smoothed out her dress, looking down at it's blue and silver material. It stretched down almost to her ankles, but the neck line dipped down enough to turn a few heads if she was a little older. Her normal, straight hair was braided, dangling down her back. All in all, she looked exquisite.

**MELANIE AIRHEART, PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE. MELANIE AIRHEART, PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE.**

"Good luck~!" Fay giggled, picking her up off the bench and shoving her towards the stage. Amelia squeaked out before getting her balance back, taking a deep breath before walking up to the stage. The crowd roared when she walked up, her knees knocking together. She felt like there was an elephant sitting on her chest, she could barely breathe.

It was her first contest, and she had stage fright. She gripped her two pokeballs close to her sides, taking a shaky breath. She couldn't do it. She knew she couldn't. Everyone was staring at her. She felt suffocated, trapped by their stares. She felt like she was a bird trapped in a cage that wasn't large enough to fly in. She was going to quit. Just run away from this and quit. Go back and marry Louis Pint.

"Come on, Rich Girl! Show us what you can do!" Everything went away. All her fear, the uneasiness, the crushing weight on her chest. It all disappeared just by one boy's voice.

West's voice. She had to do it for him.. Show him he made the right choice in taking her with him.

"Marill, Seedot, blow them away!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yep. You guys just got cliff hangered. And what do you guys think of West being Professor Birch's son? Too obvious? Too standard? It becomes important later on, trust me. Remember, review, review, review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: The Moment of Truth!  
><strong>  
><em>It was her first contest, and she had stage fright. She gripped her two pokeballs close to her sides, taking a shaky breath. She couldn't do it. She knew she couldn't. Everyone was staring at her. She felt suffocated, trapped by their stares. She felt like she was a bird trapped in a cage that wasn't large enough to fly in. She was going to quit. Just run away from this and quit. Go back and marry Louis Pint.<em>

_"Come on, Rich Girl! Show us what you can do!" Everything went away. All her fear, the uneasiness, the crushing weight on her chest. It all disappeared just by one boy's voice._

_West's voice. She had to do it for him.. Show him he made the right choice in taking her with him._

_"Marill, Seedot, blow them away!"_

* * *

><p>The two pokemon appeared on the ground in a burst of light, standing back to back, Marill's arms folded across its chest. Amelia smiled as she watched her pokemon. Sure, they weren't as big and strong as the pokemon that had competed before her, and maybe she was still a rookie, but she had faith in her partners. She knew they could completely dazzle this crowd, and knock the socks off that smug boy Devin.<p>

"Seedot, start us off with sunny day, if you please!" Amelia sang, pointing her fingers towards the sky like a gun, pulling the imaginary trigger. Seedot shot a bright orb up into the air, it freezing in one spot before light erupted from it, covering every inch of the stage. People in the audience covered their eyes, trying to keep focused on the performance. "Now, use leech seed!" Seedot fired a small seed out of the top of its head, Marill crouching down low, getting ready.

"Marill, water gun attack on the seed!" The small blue pokemon shot a jet of water from its mouth, completely drenching the seed in water. The seed suddenly erupted into vines, stretching out through the air, lodging themselves in the wall. The vines spread out, snaking over the ceiling and hanging down around them, everyone in the crowd oo-ing and ahh-ing. After about thirty seconds, the vines had completely covered the ceiling, the light from the sunny day shining dimly through them. It was almost like being on scene in a horror movie.

"Seedot, bullet seed on the vines! Then Marill, water gun again!" The two pokemon followed their orders, Seedot's seeds lodging themselves in tiny gaps between the vines. Marill covered the seeds with water, much like the leech seed. The light from the sunny day mixed with the water caused the seeds to bloom, huge flower heads sprouting from each and every one, a sweet fragrance filling the air.

"Seedot, use nature power!" She called out, but nothing happened. Seedot just stood there, trembling, and Amelia's heart froze in her chest. What was going on with it? It couldn't be getting stage fright now, could it? No, that wasn't possible!

That was when Seedot's body suddenly shone a bright white, Amelia staring on, utterly confused. Seedot began to grow to almost twice its size, sprouting a pair of arms and legs. The tiny cap on its head was replaced by a leaf, intense eyes snapping open. The light burst outwards, Amelia's cute Seedot gone. Instead, it had been replaced by a very powerful looking Nuzleaf.

Nuzleaf cried out, its body flashing a bright green, the ground starting to rumble. Four huge trees suddenly burst out from the floor, stretching up almost to the vines on the ceiling. Amelia covered her mouth with surprise, completely overwhelmed. Just by evolving, nature power's strength had increased so much. The original plan was just to sprout one tree, not four.

Amelia was about to end her routine when Nuzleaf did something she hadn't been expecting. The leaf on its head began to glow almost a gold color, its eyes changing to match it. A small orb began to form in its mouth before Nuzleaf fired it as a huge beam, breaking clean through the vines and hitting home into the sunny day orb. They both exploded on contact, setting all of the vines ablaze. The flames spread to the trees, completely coating them with a veil of orange and red flames. Nuzleaf had just used solarbeam.

This could definitely work to her advantage.

"Marill, spin and use ice beam!" Marill did exactly what she wanted it to do. The Marill span in place, zapping the white bolts at the burning trees, along with the vines. The flames themselves covered by a sheet of ice, instead of the vines. All of the color was trapped inside them, the flames still burning, but the thick layer stopped the ice from melting. Amelia had actually sealed a flame inside of ice. "Hope you all enjoyed it~!"

And the crowd loved it. They all screamed and got up out of their seats, clapping wildly, their applause thundering. Amelia curtsied to them slowly, trying to fight her shaking legs. She blew a few kisses, returning her two pokemon before running back inside the dressing room, but not before she heard the announcer's opinion on her performance.

"Amelia just showed that being a rookie doesn't mean you can't succeed! She has shown one of the most original performances we've seen today, even with that fright halfway through! Seedot's evolution could have been risky, but she pulled it off brilliantly!" Amelia stood in the hallway between the stage and the dressing rooms, leaning against the cold tile wall. The tears finally spilled over, her crying a mixture of laughing and sobbing. She had never been so scared nor so happy in her entire life.

She couldn't believe it. She had been expecting herself to screw up, to completely fall flat on her face, but what she had done instead? Amelia never thought she could have done so well, but she had rocked it. That was the best performance she had ever put on in her entire life. Everyone loved her routine.

"Hey Rich Girl." Amelia looked up slowly through blurry eyes to see West standing over her. He placed a hand on top of her head, ruffling up her hair gently and smiling. "You were incredible out there." Amelia felt herself fall against him, her hands gripping his shirt tightly and sobbing. West smiled and held her against him, his hands running through her long black hair. "How awesome did you feel?"

"P-pretty awesome," Amelia choked out, neither of them saying a word afterwards. They just stood there, Amelia staining West's shirt with her tears. It took almost twenty minutes for her to stop crying, her eyes puffy and red when she was done. West looked down at her, doing his best not to show it, but she actually looked kind of cute like this. He was used to the stone faced rich girl, so getting to see the human side of her every once in a while? It was worth waiting for.

"I have something I want to give you. Come with me," And West took her hand, leading her out through the dressing rooms. Her face slowly turned red when she felt everyone giving them weird looks, but West didn't seem to notice. Either that, or he just didn't care. She hoped it was the second one.. The thought made her happy.

West led her to one of the video phones, punching in a number. The phone rang for a few seconds before an extremely well built man appeared on it, waving wildly. "West! How are you my boy?"

"Hey dad. Do you still have the pokemon there with you?" He asked, Amelia struggling to see what was going on. She could tell who the man was just by the tiny amount of him that she could see. He was Professor Birch, Hoenn's leading expert on pokemon. West was the son of such an important man? She had never expected it.

"Huh? You've finally found the person to give it to?" The professor asked, West nodding and pulling Amelia quickly into the frame. "Oh, it's a girl. I'm glad to see you're finally showing an interest," His dad teased, West's face instantly turning red.

"D-Dad! That's not what this is about! She's just.. Melanie deserves it," West protested, his dad letting out a mighty guffaw of a laugh. "J-Just send over the pokemon for me, okay?"

"Fine, fine," The Professor snickered, vanishing off camera for a few minutes.

"Your dad seems.. Nice," Amelia giggled, for lack of a better word. West just stuck his tongue out at her, instantly drawing it back in when his dad popped back up.

"There, I sent it over. It should be at the contest counter," He told the two, West silently fist pumping. He was so psyched to be able to finally trust someone enough to give them this pokemon.

"Stay here," West told Amelia, darting off before she could protest. He left her all alone with his dad, the shy girl brushing her dress off nervously.

"I know who you are, Amelia. It's hard not to recognize you." Those words shook her right down to her core. She looked over slowly, the Professor watching her with cold eyes. He had completely changed from the joking man from a few minutes ago. "If you want my advice, you need to do something to make yourself look different, to hide yourself. I have no idea why you would run away, but your father has been stirring up a storm trying to find you. Just a name isn't enough to disappear."

"Hey, Melanie!" West ran back over, holding a pokeball in his hand. "My dad told me to give this pokemon to someone who I thought deserves it.. And that's you. You've shown me so many times how incredible you can be, so.. Here." And he handed it over to her, Amelia gripping it shakily. She tried her best to calm her self down, but the fact that the professor had so easily recognized her threw her for a loop. She hadn't been prepared for it. But the fact that West believed in her so much made her feel a little better. Actually, a lot better.

Amelia pressed the button on the pokeball, watching as a burst of light fired out of it. A small red chick-like pokemon appeared out of it, it's head tilting curiously as it surveyed the room. It seemed to sneeze before shooting out a small burst of fire from its beak, the flames scalding the floor. "Melanie, meet Torchic. Torchic, Melanie."

"It's so.. So.. Cute!" Melanie squealed, picking the torchic up off the floor, cuddling with it over and over. "I bet you're really, really powerful, just like Marill!" Torchic rubbed its cheek lovingly against Melanie's, obviously loving the attention she was giving it.

"It's moves are Ember, Peck, and Heat Wave. It's not your average torchic," West gloated, obviously very proud of the pokemon he had helped raise. He must have been looking for a long time to find someone to give Torchic to.

**ALL CONTESTANTS, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MAIN STAGE. ALL CONTESTANTS, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE MAIN STAGE.**

"Looks like you've gotta get going. I'll be rooting for you," West told her, quickly saying goodbye to his dad before hanging up the phone. He and Amelia shared a quick hug before she ran off, returning her new Torchic on the fly. She looked at herself in the mirror quickly as she ran past it, already knowing exactly how she was going to disguise herself after this.

She joined the rest of the contestants on the stage, overwhelmed at the sheer number of them. There had to be at least three hundred people entered in this contest, and only eight got to make it to the next round. The judges no long publicly announced their rulings, but instead decided in secret. They thought it added suspense. The coordinators call it torture.

"Hey, Melanie~!" Fay cried out, jumping on her back and squeezing down. Amelia gasped when she got so close, looking back at her. "You were so awesome! I thought as a rookie, you would completely screw up, but you kicked ass out there! You better make it through!"

"Not bad, fresh meat. I hope you make it to the next round. It might be some good practice for me." Amelia blinked, looking up slowly at Devin, his green eyes sparkling at her. Okay, her mind had to be playing tricks on her. Were his eyes constantly changing color?

"Practice huh? You know what, I hope that I battle you. That way I can knock that smug smile right off your face!" She snapped back at him, the silver haired boy winking at her and turning his attention to the main screen.

"Thank you all for coming! Now, we're going to announce the top eight for our competition! With the highest score given by the judges, in first place, Devin Powell! He is followed closely by Fay Jayston, in second place!" Amelia listened in close as the announcer went through the third place name, and the fourth place name. She felt her hopes starting to fall. She hadn't made it in the top four, but maybe.. Maybe the top eight. She had to at least get past the first round.

"In sixth place, Melanie Airheart!" Amelia gasped out, covering her mouth quickly. Fay squealed and hugged her tight, and she couldn't help but hug back. She couldn't believe it. She was through! She was going on to the battle rounds! The announcer went through the last two names, but Amelia wasn't listening. She was too busy celebrating.

"Now, to announce the first match up for the battle rounds!" The pictures on the main screen suddenly flipped over, spinning around like a stack of cards. Amelia tried her best to keep up with which one was hers, but no luck. She could only wait for them to flip back over again. The person whose picture she was paired next to was her opponent. The pictures suddenly flipped over, and she felt her throat tighten up.

Oh no.

"The first battle will be between Devin Powell and Melanie Airheart!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You guys better be excited for the next chapter. I'm doing my best to keep this updated as frequently as possible, but I'm back to school next week, so updating is going to get a lot harder. Hope you'll be patient with me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Amelia vs Devin! The Rookie Battles the Pro!**

* * *

><p>Amelia stood on the balcony of her new hotel room, watching the inky black sky. She was wearing her pajamas, which were just a white tank top and a pair of boxer shorts with smiling Meowth pictures all over it. For a rich girl, she definitely liked dressing like everyone else did. It made her feel like she fit in more. Of course, her clothes weren't the only the only things she had changed.<p>

Her hair had gone from a waterfall of onyx black to being cropped just over her shoulders, a deep auburn color. What Professor Birch had said really got to her. She had to change everything about her appearance in order not to get caught. She hadn't realized just how easy it was to get recognized, especially by people she had never even met.

The young girl ran her hand through her hair slowly, playing with the tips of her bangs. She had to admit, she looked forward to seeing how much West would freak out when he saw her. It was going to be hilarious. She giggled a little, blinking when she felt something pecking against her leg. Torchic was trying to get her attention, tilting its head questioningly at her hair, big black eyes confused.

"Hey Torchic, do you like the new look?" Amelia smiled, kneeling down and petting the top of her pokemon's head. Torchic leaned into her hand, nodding its head up and down.

"Torchic, Tor!" Torchic responded, turning and running back towards the bed. Marill, Elektrike and Nuzleaf were all sitting on one of the beds, actually playing cards with each other. There was a large pile of pokemon food between the three of them, obviously up for grabs. Marill slapped down a pair of cards, both Nuzleaf and Elektrike falling over and groaning with exhaustion. Marill snickered a few times before pulling in the batch of pokemon food, instantly munching down on its winnings.

"Are you three betting?" Amelia frowned, sitting on the other bed, folding her arms over her chest. Nuzleaf sat up, rubbing the back of its head nervously, looking away from her as if it was avoiding the question. Marill was too busy eating to care that they were busted, but Elektrike was hiding behind a pillow. Torchic laughed at its new friends, jumping up on the bed with them.

"I need to tell you guys something. I know West has told you my name's Melanie, but it isn't. It's Amelia, okay? Amelia Azure, not Melanie Airheart. Seedot and Elektrike both already know this, but I need to tell all of you why." And then she told her newest pokemon the story of how she had ran away from home. She told them everything, everything that she wanted to tell West, but couldn't. She was talking for almost an hour, all her pokemon watching and listening. "I hate lying to everyone, especially to West, but it's important that none of them know who I really am. I know none of you guys can tell them, but still, I'd really appreciate if you did this for me."

"You know.. You could have just told me your name, instead of using that crappy fake one. I mean, Melanie to cover up Amelia? Didn't sprain any muscles there, did you?" Amelia's head shot up to the door, West leaning against it, a knowing smirk on his face. Amelia stared at him, eyes wide. Had he been eavesdropping?

"Wait, you knew? Since when?" She whispered, shifting over when West sat down on the spot next to her. Torchic jumped over on to their bed, nuzzling itself into West's lap.

"Since the day we met. Your name was on your house's fence genius." He smirked at her, Amelia's face slowly starting to heat up. How had she been so stupid? But he had been playing along the entire time! West had purposefully been making her feel bad!

"So why didn't you say anything? I've been going out of my mind with guilt from lying to you!" She snapped, smacking him over and over. West laughed as she kept hitting him, covering himself with his arms so she wouldn't do any real damage.

"Easy, easy! I was just waiting to see if there was a good chance to bring it up, or you told me yourself. I had no idea it was making you feel so bad," West apologized when she finally started to calm down, pinning her hands down to the bed. "The point is, you don't have to lie to me anymore. So.. Why did you change your hair?"

"Your dad recognized me when we were on the phone, so I decided to change the way I looked. It seemed like the best option.. Why, it doesn't look bad, does it?" She asked, instantly starting to panic.

"No, it actually looks really good. I like it." West ran a hand through her hair slowly, using it to prove his point. Amelia's face popped into a deep shade of red, instantly looking away from him.

"Th-thanks, I'm glad you like it.." She whispered, the mood between them suddenly changing. Why was West so good at embarrassing her like that? No one had ever made her feel as nervous as he did. She did her best to shake it off, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop the way her heart raced whenever she saw him smile.

"Are you nervous for tomorrow?" West asked her, instantly changing the subject. Amelia let out a silent sigh of relief before shifting, looking at him right in the eyes.

"Maybe a little. Devin's really good, and his pokemon are super strong. I'm not sure how I'm gonna beat him."

"You can't think like that. This is your first contest right? So you should go in with a bang. What pokemon are you planning on using?"

"I was going to use Torchic and Elektrike. They're definitely my strongest pokemon."

"How bout a practice double battle then?" West asked, earning himself a surprised look from Amelia. She had never even thought of battling West before. He was really strong, probably stronger than Devin. He could be good practice though.

"Alright, let's do it."

* * *

><p>"Welcome everyone to the first match of the battle rounds! All of our coordinators have shown extraordinary skill, but these eight are the best of the best we have to offer! Now everyone, please welcome our first pair, the powerful, the intimidating Devin Powell!" The crowd roared as Devin took his spot on the field, pulling two pokeballs off of his belt. He had traded in his black button up shirt and jeans for a blazer, red tie and undershirt, along with a pair of black dress pants. His white fedora had been replaced with a black one, his eyes a piercing red.<p>

"Scar, Torch, it's battle time!" The pokeballs exploded open, a large metallic bird taking flight towards the top of the arena. The roof had been opened up, the harsh sun beating down on the field. A red snail like pokemon was on the field as well, roaring and firing a large jet of fire into the sky. The bird pokemon spun around, firing a silver blast of energy from its mouth and into the fire, the two attacks creating a large explosion midair.

"What an incredible display of power by Devin's Skarmory and Magcargo! Now, his opponent! A rookie girl who's just made herself known in the contest world, with more than one surprise to show us today, here is Melanie Airheart!" Amelia ran onto the stage, the crowd gasping at her hair. She was wearing a long white dress that stretched down to her ankles, a white headband holding her bangs out of her face, adopting a bit of Fay's style. There was a small red ribbon on the chest of her dress, the young girl smiling and bowing to everyone.

"Torchic, Elektrike, give me your help!" Her two pokemon burst out of their pokeballs, the two beams of light wrapping around each other. Torchic appeared first, the small red pokemon firing a blast of hot air from its mouth up into the air. Elektrike quickly followed, its entire body covering itself with electricity before diving inside the heat wave. The tiny electric type blew the heat wave apart, howling out loud. Elektrike landed down next to its battling partner, both pokemon carrying smug smiles on their faces.

"And Melanie has countered with just as much power! The battle hasn't even started yet and you can already tell that it's going to be a doozey!" The announcer roared, the crowd answering her with roars of their own.

Amelia had to admit, she was nervous. Terrified, actually. Devin was definitely not going to be an easy opponent, but hopefully her battles with West last night had made a difference. Torchic and Elektrike both looked a lot stronger because of them.

_Come on Rich Girl, you can't let him beat you. It just wouldn't be fair after all the hard work we put in to your battling. You've got talent for it, you just need real competition._Those words kept echoing through her mind, them being part of a conversation her and West had last night. Maybe he was right. Maybe battling Devin would give her exactly what she needed.

"There's five minutes on the clock, so let's battle!" Both coordinators' pictures appeared on the boards, small green bars underneath them, along with a five minute timer. Either your bar ran out, your pokemon fainted, or time runs out and whoever has the most points left wins. You lost points by having an attack fail, taking damage, or the opponent pulled off an incredible move.

"Scar, drill peck!" Devin roared, not missing a beat after the battle started. His Skarmory shot up into the air before dive bombing towards Amelia's pokemon, spinning like, well, like a drill. It's beak let out a fiery glow, closing in fast.

"Torchic, counter with peck!" Amelia ordered, jabbing her finger forward. Torchic ran up, its beak shining a bright silver, meeting the skarmory in mid air. Sparks flew from the two pokemon's beaks, their entire bodies struggling with the strain of the attacks. Both Torchic and Scar were thrown backwards, skidding along the stage floor. Both trainers bars slid down by the same amount, a tiny sliver. No worries yet.

"Torch, use flamethrower on Elektrike now!" Devin's magcargo shot a blistering jet of red and orange flames out of its mouth, speeding straight for Elektrike. Amelia had seen the attack coming though, she had studied alot of Devin's previous battles. She knew how he worked.

"Elektrike, quick spark now!" Everyone in the audience exchanged looks of confusion at the attack name, wondering if she screwed up. Elektrike sprinted forward, its body shining from the quick attack, and that was when the electricity shot out. Elektrike's speed almost doubled, the tiny pokemon managing to slip underneath Torch's flamethrower, homing in quickly. It rammed into the fire type with all its power, knocking it onto its side about ten feet away. Devin's eyes shot up to the board as his points dropped again, his bar barely over three quarters full.

"Not bad. Scar, use extremespeed!" The large metallic bird had already gotten back up, its body a silver stream of light. It quickly closed in on Elektrike, its sharp beak jabbing into Amelia's pokemon's side. Elektrike howled with pain as it was thrown up into the air, but Devin wasn't finished yet. "Torch, rock slide!" A stream of rocks suddenly descended from the sky, heading straight towards the small electric type. The one hit had knocked a decent chunk off of Amelia's points, the score completely tied up.

"Torchic, use heatwave on the rocks then follow up with peck!" Torchic jumped up into the air, firing a blast of hot air from its mouth and onto the rocks, their surfaces turning a bright shade of red. The fire type followed up with a barrage of pecks, shattering the rocks into pebbles, the remains clattering harmlessly to the ground. Devin's jaw clenched slightly as his points dropped again, Amelia giving him a small wink. Her personality completely changed while in a contest.

"Torch, earthquake!" His magcargo let out a loud cry, its body shining a bright red. The ground suddenly began to rumble and break apart, throwing both Torchic and Elektrike high up into the air. Devin smirked as he watched them, jabbing a finger forward, "Now, Scar, blast 'em with the flash cannon ring!" His skarmory, which had been flying above by itself, began to charge up a large silver ball in its mouth. It flew in a circle, gaining speed quickly before becoming a metallic blur. The attack that burst from its mouth had been moving so quickly, it formed a large ring of energy that shot down towards Torchic and Elektrike. The two pokemon were caught in the middle, the ring suddenly imploding into a large cloud of smoke.

"Torchic, Elektrike, no!" Amelia cried, her two pokemon firing out of the smoke like rockets, crashing onto the shattered ground. They landed on two separate chunks, both struggling to stand back up. Amelia didn't even need to look to realize how much her points had dropped, but she knew she was well behind now. That attack had been devastating.

Torchic managed to push itself onto its feet, leaning its head underneath Elektrike's jaw to help push it up. Devin watched with amazement, obviously not expecting them to get up. This girl was putting up way more of a fight than he had expected.

"Not bad, fresh meat. Scar, finish this up with extremespeed!" Devin cried, his pokemon quickly following his orders, becoming a silver blur once again. Amelia gasped as her Elektrike suddenly ran forward, its teeth suddenly sparking with electricity. It leaped into the air, colliding with Scar, bolts of electricity firing across the room. Scar and Elektrike were both thrown backwards, Scar managing to keep itself airborne, but Elektrike hit the ground with a loud thud. Elektrike had just learned thunder fang.

"Thirty seconds left!"

"Torch, use flame thrower!"

"Torchic, heat wave!" The two fire pokemon charged forward, firing their respective attacks. The jet of flame collided with the hot air, bursting outward in an explosion of flame. Torchic charged through the smoke however, Amelia yelling at it to use a peck attack, speeding towards the magcargo. Scar had quickly circled around, shutting Torchic down with a drill peck. The small fire type was flung back, hitting the ground hard next to Elektrike.

Amelia was starting to panic. She had done okay in the beginning of the match, but now, Devin was completely over powering her. Had he been going easy on her at the start? The thought actually made her feel sick. She didn't want to be pitied. She didn't want to be taken lightly. She didn't want to be looked down on. Now, more than anything, she wanted to win.

"Elektrike, use spark! Torchic, cover it with heat wave!" Elektrike charged forward, quickly covering itself with electricity. Torchic wrapped a blast of hot air around it, sparks and flames scorching the battle field. Devin whistled as he watched it, constantly surprised by her. She never quit trying, not even when she had no chance of winning. It was incredible.

Too bad he had to beat her down.

"Scar, use flash cannon and Torch, spin your head and use flamethrower!" The two did as they were told, firing their attacks. The spinning flamethrower enclosed around the flash cannon, rushing to meet Elektrike head on. Devin's attack easily overpowered Amelia's, completely breaking apart the cover she had created for her pokemon. The flash cannon picked up Elektrike, the lightning pokemon being constantly damaged as it was carried backwards.

The attack and Elektrike collided with Torchic, driving the two past their trainer and into the wall behind her. The wind rushing past her knocked the headband out of her hair and Amelia stood, frozen in place, as her pokemon slumped down to the ground, eyes swirled. They had fainted. They had been beaten.

Amelia had lost.

"And with less than fifteen seconds in the battle, Devin has taken it! After an incredible first battle, we have our first semi-finalist! Devin Powell!" The crowd exploded into applause as Amelia slowly walked over to her pokemon, returning them both.

"Thanks you two. You did great," She whispered, her voice cracking as she spoke, hair covering her eyes. She didn't know how she was supposed to deal with this. Her first contest had ended up in a loss. She had barely made the top eight, and she was knocked out in the first battle round. She had been so excited, so confident. She was even winning for a while. She could have won.

Losing was heartbreaking. She had never felt so disappointed in her life. She never would have felt this way if she had stayed at home. Maybe she wasn't meant to be a coordinator. Maybe she was just supposed to sit at home and be a quiet wife.

That's the way a sore loser would think, anyway.

As much as losing hurt, as disappointed as she was, she had learned so many things from this battle. She had become closer with her pokemon because of it, and she had that incredible battle with Devin. Even if she had lost, she still had a blast.

So, when she saw West waiting for her at the end of the hallway, she had no problem with collapsing into him and breaking down. She seemed to be doing that a lot now. She didn't mind though. She felt nice being in West's arms. She felt safe. She even liked the way he smelled, almost like the forest. The two just stood there, West completely silent as Amelia cried.

And it was nice.

* * *

><p>"And that's all she wrote, folks! The winner of the Petalburg city contest is... Fay Jayston! It was a close one, but with her Baltoy and Swablu, she managed to defeat Devin!" It had been two days since Amelia's loss to Devin, but she and West had decided to stick around for the rest of the contest. It was the least she could do to support her new friends.<p>

She had learned one thing from watching the contest though.

Fay was definitely the most powerful coordinator there. Someday, Amelia was going to have to battle her.

Gulp.

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><p><strong>AN: Alright, the first contest is over! Did it go the way you guys thought it would? I thought it would be more realistic if Amelia lost her first contest. No one get mad at me, okay? Dx Remember, review, review, review!  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: On the road again! West vs. Roselle and Bryant!**

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><p>"How're you feeling?" West asked Amelia for the umpteenth time that day, the auburn haired girl flashing him a look of irritation. He had been like this ever since she had lost, way too nice for West. The first day she had needed the comfort, but now? Now he was just annoying. It had been almost a week since the end of the contest, and since she had said goodbye to Fay and Devin.<p>

Devin had obviously been in a bad mood since he lost, but he didn't seem that angry. More disappointed in himself than anything else. Amelia had tried to avoid talking about the contest in order to make sure he didn't end up feeling even worse, but that hadn't worked out. Fay had been absolutely ecstatic over her victory and wouldn't stop talking about it. It was actually a bit of a hassle getting Devin to calm down after that.

The Petalburg Contest had been aired on tv the day after and, thankfully, for some reason the recording of her appeal round went missing. She had a weird feeling West had something to do with it, considering his lack of shock, but she didn't mind. He had probably saved her a lot of trouble. They showed her battle with Devin though, and watching it made her heart race all over again.

"I'm fine, West. You don't need to keep asking, I'm over the loss. I just want to move on and get back to training. Where's the next contest anyway?" She asked, quickly changing the subject. West decided to let it go, pulling a small device out of his bag, a Pokenav. Amelia wasn't quite sure of all the mechanics, but there was a map inside and a list of numbers that the two could call if they needed help.

"The next contest is in Slateport City. We're going to need to take a boat to get there, though, not to mention stop off at Dewford Town. I've got something I have to drop off for the gym leader there." West showed her, tracing his fingers along the small screen, outlining the route for her.

"That looks like it's going to take a while.. Isn't there a faster way?" She asked, quickly scanning ov er the map. She wasn't very good at reading maps though, so she couldn't quite tell what she was doing.

"Nope, this is our best bet. I know someone nearby that can help us. His name's Mr. Briney and he's an old friend of my dad," West said, the rest of the walk taking about five minutes. Mr. Briney didn't live too far outside of Petalburg, so finding his sea side cottage was a cinch. There was a decent sized boat anchored outside, one that looked like it could only fit three or four people on it.

"West, there's something that I've been wanting to ask you. You've been on your journey a lot longer than I have, so why did my Nuzleaf evolve before any of your pokemon?" Amelia asked, stopping West before they got to close to the house. She liked her conversations with West to be private, even if that was a little selfish. It meant she was constantly stealing him away from other people.

"Oh that? Easy. With this," and he pulled a small red machine out of his bag this time, showing it off to her. "Ta-da. This is a pokedex. Neat, huh? It contains information on all the pokemon that we know about." Amelia gave him a look of slight skepticism, unable to believe the tiny pokedex could hold so much data.

"That doesn't really answer my question."

"I was getting to that, Miss Snippy. See, when a pokemon is about to evolve, you can press a button on the pokedex. This beautiful little doo-hickey then fires off an electro-magnetic wave that counters and stops a pokemon's evolution. Pretty much all of my pokemon are ready to evolve, I just wanted them to get as strong as they can like this first. Though, having Mudkip and Numel evolve would be a lot easier."

"Does that mean that, if you don't stop it, they'll both evolve in their next battle?"

"Definitely. It could be about time to get some real powerhouses on my team, other than my Absol. For now, we need to get on that boat." And West pulled Amelia towards the house quickly, his long legs closing the distance in less than a minute.

He tapped the door with his knuckles, waiting a few seconds. When there was no answer, he just decided to open up the door, blinking when he saw his elderly friend talking to two other people.

One was a boy that looked quite a bit older than West, at least three years. He was about four inches taller than him, putting the boy at about five foot twelve, pushing six feet. From what West could tell, the boy had a very lean, almost athletic build. Black hair draped down to his shoulders, a few strands sticking out here and there. He wore a simple long sleeved grey shirt and a pair of jeans, not even noticing the two pre-teens walk in.

The girl, on the other hand, turned right around to look at them. She had similar length hair as the boy, only hers was a deep shade of brown, her scalp covered by a black beanie. Her eyes were a dark brown, looking black depending on how the light reflected off of them, standing out against her pale skin. Her clothes were simple as well, just a red t-shirt and blue jeans. When she noticed the two looking back at her, she quickly turned her gaze to the ground, shuffling in her spot.

"Ah, West! It's good to see you my boy!" Mr. Briney called out, standing up from his little mat on the floor. He and West shook hands, grinning widely at each other.

"It's good to see you too, Mr. Briney. How have you been feeling?" West asked, the old man laughing and flexing his arm for good measure, just to show off how healthy he was.

"Much better, thanks to you and your brother. Where is Brendan, anyhow? I haven't seen him for quite some time either." No one else would have noticed it, but Amelia did. A flash of anger shot over West's face before he composed himself again, answering Mr. Briney with a disinterested shrug. "No clue, eh? That doesn't surprise me. Brendan was always the type to keep moving."

"Yeah, he was. I'd love to chat more, but I came here because I need your help. My friend, Melanie and I, we need a way to get to Slateport City. I need to stop off in Dewford as well, and you're our only really option." West told him, giving Mr. Briney that pleading look that always seemed to get Amelia to do whatever he wanted. She hated and loved the look at the same time.

"Excuse me, but we're getting our ride first. Bryant and I have a gym battle coming up," the girl finally spoke, standing up slowly. Her voice had been quiet, but there was a strange force behind it, as if she wouldn't accept getting bumped back.

"You can challenge the gym at any time, but I have something I really need to give to Brawley. It's a business thing," West countered, not willing to give in too easily.

"But it's not fair of you to just push Roselle and I out of the way like that. We have just as much of a right to get on Mr. Briney's ship as you do, so why should you get to go first?" The boy, Bryant, said. He stepped forward, puffing out his chest and cheeks a little to make himself look more intimidating. It just made Amelia giggle though. He looked kind of goofy.

"Because I have something that I need to get to him. It's seriously important."

"But our gym battles are important too. Can't you just wait a day or two for little old me?" Bryant asked, batting his eyelids sweetly, Amelia having to bite her lip to stifle a laugh. She wasn't sure what it was, but Bryant was cracking her up.

"I have an idea. Why don't we settle this the way that trainers settle everything? A battle. I'll take you two on by myself, and if you win, you get to go first. If I win, Melanie and I get to go first. Deal?" West asked, holding his hand out to Bryant. Bryant thought for a second, sharing a quick look with Roselle, the petite girl nodding her approval.

"Deal." The two boys shook hands, Amelia letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Why was it so much trouble to get a freaking boat ride? She wished West could be a little more patient sometimes, but he was like how Mr. Briney had described his brother. Always moving.

"Shouldn't I help you battle? I'm sure Nuzleaf and I could-"

"No thanks, Rich Girl. I've been watching you have all the fun recently.. I wanna have some of my own. You can be our referee though," West said with a wink, walking out into the grassy fields with Bryant and Roselle.

Amelia sighed before walking forward, coughing a few times, "This will be a double battle between the team of Bryant and Roselle against West. The battle is over when both pokemon on one team are unable to battle. Since West issued the challenge, Bryant and Roselle get the first move."

"Gallade, I choose you!" Bryant called out, a large pokemon appearing in front of him. The fighting psychic type punched the air over and over, finishing with a snap kick straight to the ground. A cloud of air burst out from its foot, kicking up a small veil of dust. That Gallade looked powerful. Very powerful.

"Nidoking, let's battle," Rosella said, her voice still quiet. West actually had to strain to hear her. The pokemon that appeared in front of her was plenty loud though. In front of her was a pokemon almost the same size as Gallade, a large intimidating horn sticking out of its head. Nidoking slammed its feet down on the ground, giving it a nice shake, just to show off its power.

"Both of them look really strong. Alright, Absol, Mudkip, let's go!" West sent out his own pokemon, Absol clawing at the ground, leaving deep trenches. Mudkip shot a large jet of water up into the air, flexing its arms and legs to make itself look even more powerful. "I'm looking forward to this, it's been a while since I've had a proper battle. Don't disappoint me, okay?"

"Your pokemon seem strong too.. This might actually be fun! Gallade, use close combat on Absol!" Gallade shot forward, its eyes turning a dark red color. The blade pokemon's body practically vanished as it moved, closing in on Absol within a few seconds.

"Absol, detect!" The disaster pokemon's eyes flashed blue for a moment, its body tensing up. Gallade opened up a barrage of blows, all of which Absol blocked with either its tail or paws. Absol dodged the final blow, Gallade's fist barely missing its cheek. Gallade's attack drove right into the ground, splitting the earth beneath it. Absol landed without making a sound, tilting its nose up to the sky, obviously looking down on Gallade. Amelia was getting the feeling that Absol was a very arrogant pokemon.

"Your Absol might be strong, but lets see about your Mudkip. Nidoking, use poison jab," Rosella said, her voice starting to grow louder. She had a small sparkle in her eye, the corners of her lips pulled up in a smile. Bryant looked over at her, slightly surprised. He hadn't seen Rosella really smile while battling for a while.

Her Nidoking charged towards the tiny mudfish pokemon, its fist shining a bright purple. Its foot steps shook the ground beneath them a mighty war cry bellowing out from its mouth. Mudkip stared at it with wide eyes, trembling slightly.

"Mudkip, counter with double-edge!" West called out, his partner shaking its head a few times to snap itself back to normal. It instantly charged forward, its forehead shining a bright orange before covering its body with a ball of the same color. Mudkip jumped on top of Nidoking's fist, bouncing off it and into the mighty pokemon's jaw. Nidoking was thrown backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Awesome, Mudkip!" West fist pumped, his water type sparking before shaking it off. Double-edge was a recoil move, the amount of damage the user takes depending on how much damage it dealt. Mudkip had hit Nidoking pretty hard, so it had knocked off a pretty large chunk of its own health.

"I thought this was gonna be an easy fight, but this kid's really good! I haven't been so excited for a battle in a long time! Gallade, psycho cut on Mudkip!" Bryant called out, jabbing his finger forward. His pokemon covered its arm with a multi-colored light, darting towards Mudkip. Gallade seemed to vanish before reappearing over the small water type, the light from the sun reflecting off of its attack.

"Absol, counter it with night slash!" Absol shot forward, the hook on the side of its head covering itself with a shadow-like veil. Absol was suddenly between Gallade and Mudkip, spinning and smacking Gallade's attack into the ground with its tail. Absol kept spinning, slamming its attack into its opponent's side. Gallade cried out with pain before flying backwards, crashing hard into the dirt. Mudkip opened its eyes slowly, giving Absol a thankful salute.

Nidoking picked up its battle partner, the two clasping their hands together, sharing a look. The two pokemon seemed to be very close to each other, so their trainers had to have been travelling together for at least a little while. It took a long time for a bond like that to build.

"Nidoking, use brick break on Absol," Rosella's pokemon shot forward, driving its super powered fist into the dark type's side. Absol gasped out, the attack launching it up into the air. Absol flipped a few times, Nidoking smirking as its tail suddenly slapped down, pinning Mudkip to the floor. Gallade jumped up after Absol, its eyes turning that red color again, a close combat obviously coming.

"Mudkip, throw Nidoking off then stop Gallade with hydro pump!" Mudkip's tiny body suddenly pushed upwards, the much larger poison type letting out a startled cry before falling onto its back. Mudkip quickly fired a large torrent of water from its mouth, its feet digging into the ground slightly. The attack hit home against Gallade's chest, knocking it out of the air and back to the dirt. West jumped up into the air, completely ecstatic over his pokemon's strength.

That was when Mudkip began to glow. Its front legs quickly changed into arms, the small pokemon standing up on its hind legs. It grew to almost twice its size, the fin on its head turning darker in color. It gained an extra fin on its hind legs, the color of that matching the one on its head. A orange circle appeared on its stomach, replacing the two spikes it had lost on its cheek. Absol dropped down beside Marshtomp, the two giving their opponents smug smiles.

"Nidoking, brick break!"

"Gallade, close combat!"

"Marshtomp, use hydro pump and Absol, use sucker punch!" Absol shot forward towards the two, both of them charging with their attacks ready. Absol slipped between both of them without much effort, slamming its hook against their jaws. Both were knocked up into the air, flipping helplessly. They were like sitting ducks up there.

They had no chance of dodging Marshtomp's attack, the powerful blast knocking them backwards through the air. The two hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop in front of their trainers, eyes swirled. They had fainted.

West had just taken on two trainers by himself and won.

"Aww, I can't believe we lost! Oh well," Bryant complained, returning his pokemon. Rosella did the same and they walked over to West, Amelia quickly joining them. She had no idea West had been such an incredible trainer.

"Even though we lost, that was really fun. Would we be able to have your number? In case we wanted to battle again, I mean," Rosella asked, holding her pokenav out to West. He took it happily, inputting his number before handing it back to her.

"There you go. I'm sorry I had to shove you out of the way, but this really is important. I would like to battle you again, sometime." West grinned, he and Amelia watching as the two left, the sun starting to set behind them.

"I think those two would make a good couple," Amelia whispered, obviously thinking out loud to herself. West blinked at her, shaking his head, mumbling something under his breath about girls. Amelia pouted and smacked his shoulder, only getting a grin in response.

"Maybe they're thinking the same thing about us." West shrugged before walking back to Mr. Briney's house, leaving Amelia standing there by herself, a face a dark shade of red. Stupid West, why had he said something like that?

Amelia quickly followed him, trying and failing to keep her imagination from running too wild. Because of that, all she could really think about was what it would be like if her and West were a couple.

Would it really be so bad?

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so, that's the end of the chapter. I don't know if I made West too overpowered, but I think he needed a time to shine. Also, adding all the mystery onto him is getting really fun. :D Remember, review, review, review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: West departs for Route 105! A look into the mysterious boy's past.**

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><p>"And here we are!" Mr. Briney called out, leading the two twelve year olds off of his boat. West yawned and stretched, his Marshtomp following his example, the two looking almost like twins. Amelia giggled at the two of them, petting her Torchic, who was sitting on her shoulder.<p>

"This place seems really.. Quiet," Amelia said, taking a quick look around Dewford Town. It was a lot smaller than anywhere else they had been during their journey, especially Rustboro City. But, Dewford was just a quiet town, a large cave looming over it.

"Ah, I love this place. It's probably my favorite town in Hoenn," West hummed, starting to head straight to the pokemon center. He was walking with his eyes closed, so he didn't notice the large red pokemon he was about to bump in to. Amelia quickly ran up and grabbed his arm, but a little too late. West's swinging arm smacked the pokemon on the back, it twitching in response.

"BLAZIKEN!" It roared, spinning to face West, only to have his Marshtomp jump between the two of them. Amelia blinked, trying her best to keep up with that was happening. Her torchic jumped off her shoulder, running forward to join Marshtomp.

"H-hey guys, enough!" Amelia tried to be the voice of reason, but none of the pokemon were interested in listening. Flames had appeared from the blaziken's wrist, its large eyes narrowed with anger. It must not have liked random people touching it. Torchic began to create an ember attack in its mouth, a large ball of fire starting to appear in Blaziken's. This was going out of hand way too fast.

That was when Absol appeared, pushing against Marshtomp and Torchic with its tail, giving Blaziken a steely eyed glared as well. All of the pokemon shuddered as Absol let out a mighty roar, stomping its foot on the ground quickly. Absol wasn't the type of pokemon to put up with screwing around, and Amelia was thankful for that.

"Thank you, Absol." Amelia smiled, petting the disaster pokemon's head. Absol almost leaned into her hand, blinking before jumping away quickly. "Guess you still don't like being around me, huh?"

"Blaziken! Have you been causing trouble again?" Amelia looked up at the voice, tilting her head. Walking over was a girl about the same height as her, the sun making her ginger hair look like it was on fire. Between her pale skin and bright, intoxicating emerald eyes, Amelia was finding it hard to look away. She wore a pink t-shirt that said, "I'm a Dragonite, here me rawr!" in giant black letters, along with a pair of knee-length jean kapris and was carrying a large sketch pad under her right arm.

Her blaziken bowed its head in embarrassment, rubbing the back of it as if to apologize. The girl sighed and gave it a playful bop on the head, shaking her head a bit. Then she just laughed and returned her pokemon, spinning on her heel and centring her attention on Amelia.

"Hello! I'm sorry about my Blaziken, he's smart, but all he really likes to do with fight. I guess I should introduce myself. Victoria's the name, everything to do with pokemon is the game! Except for breeding, so I guess not everything. More like battling and coordinating. I love coordinating more than battling though, there's nothing better than bringing out a pokemon's true beauty, you know? Especially when all my pokemon are oh so cute! Oh. Sorry. I'm rambling aren't I? I tend to that. Wait! You're Melanie aren't you? I saw your performance on the TV! You were awesome! It sucked that you lost though, that Devin guy was super good, I don't even know if I could beat him! I could probably beat you though. I've won a ton of contests. Oops! Sorry!" She quickly covered her mouth at the last part, quickly bowing to apologize.

West and Amelia had been lost about halfway through her rant, they didn't even realize what she had said. How could someone talk that much without taking a breath? It was inhuman!

"So, what're you guys doing here in Dewford? I came here to say hi to my friend Brawley, but he's not in the gym right now. He went down to route 105 for some big huge emergency, so if you came looking for a gym battle, you're out of luck! Speaking of battles, Melanie, do you wanna battle me? You were awesome in the contest and I think you and I would have an incredible battle! What do you say?"

"Huh? Oh, sure! It sounds like it could be fun! West, wanna referee?"

"Sorry.. I can't. If something's going on with Brawley, that means I'm too late with the letter. I really gotta go! See ya!" He leaned over and pecked her on the cheek, and that one little kiss made Amelia's whole world crash to the ground. She knew West. West was too shy to pull a move like that, it was always her who had hugged him. That could have only meant one thing, no matter how much her heart pounded out of happiness.

West wouldn't have kissed her if he thought he was coming back.

She wanted to stop him. She knew she should, but she couldn't. Something was making her feel like he had to go. Like he had to leave in order for everything to happen the way it was supposed to. It was a horrible, gut wrenching feeling watching him run off, but if she did try to stop him.. West might never forgive her. She would never forgive herself.

So she just watched him go, keeping a smile on her face and the tears from her eyes. As soon as he was far enough away that she was certain he couldn't see her any more, she fell to her knees and let the tears flow like a waterfall. She felt like she was losing him, like she wouldn't see him again for a long, long time.

She had no idea how right she was.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for the ride Marshtomp. Return." West stepped onto the sand, turning to look at the cave behind him, the ocean breeze blowing his hair into a right old mess. For being so close to the ocean on such a warm day, he felt extremely cold. Much colder than he should have, to be honest.<p>

He made his way inside quickly, knowing he couldn't waste any time. Brawley had contacted his dad six months ago about something starting to stir nearby Dewford, and when his dad had finally figured out what was going on, he had asked West to go find Brawley and deliver a message.

What was occurring was no natural phenomenon, no, it was something much worse than that. Three somethings to be exact.

Regice.

Regirock.

Registeel.

All three were starting to wake up for some reason. Professor Birch had no idea what exactly had woken them, but West had been told to help put them back to sleep. For that, he was going to need his strongest pokemon. Beldum.

Well, not Beldum, but Beldum's final form. Metagross. Beldum had been the first pokemon that West had been given, back when he was about four years old. Ever since then he had been training and training it, yet the small pokemon had never evolved. He couldn't figure out why until a few months ago.

While they had been in a battle, West had seen it. Stuck between Beldum's eye and the rest of his body was a tiny stone. An everstone. Afterwards, West had tried to dislodge it but no luck. The thing was stuck in there tight and until it could break or fall out by itself, Beldum was never going to evolve. He had to find a way to break it free.

Walking through the cave gave West something he had never had before now. Time to think about everything. About why he was doing what he did. Why he was travelling with Amelia, why he hadn't caught anything new for months now, why he felt it was his responsibility to stop the Regis. He knew something that nobody else knew.

Brendan was responsible for everything. His own brother had woken the Regis and wanted to use them for something. For what, West had no idea, all he knew was that he had to stop his brother. The very boy who had defeated team Aqua and Magma fourteen years ago, before West had even been born. He had to defeat Hoenn's hero.

_"Brother! Big brother! Where are you going?"_

_"Turn around and go home West. This has nothing to do with you."_

_"Why were you and dad fighting earlier? Brother, answer me!"_

_"I told you to go home!"_

**_SMACK._**

_"Don't follow me West. I'm sorry.. But the world just wasn't worth saving."_

West quickly shook his head as he walked, pushing the last memories of his brother from his mind, absently touching the spot on his cheek where he had been backhanded five years before. When he was just seven years old, his brother had left him, cold brown eyes glaring like he was nothing more than a nuisance. A failure.

"I'll show you Brendan, don't you worry.. I'll definitely be the one to stop you, big brother," West snarled through clenched teeth, his footsteps hitting the cave floor harder now, anger bubbling in his veins. This wasn't good. He was getting too emotional over this again. He moved his thoughts onto something else, something to get his brother out of his head..

Amelia.

He had only known her for a short while, but he knew already, he was crazy about her. The way she walked, talked, smiled, and of course, treated her pokemon. He had never met anyone so kind in his entire life, even if she had been a bit stuck up the first time they met. That Amelia was gone now though, replaced by the one he knew. The real Amelia. The one who laughed at his jokes and sent shivers down his spine with every touch.

He just hoped he would get the chance to see her again. What he was doing was dangerous, especially since one of the Regis was supposed to live around here. He had no idea which one of them, but it was here. He was going to have to find Brawley before the Regi found him. Worst comes to worst, he would have to battle it alone. He was starting to freak out, adrenaline pounding in his ears, his breath speeding up more and more. Oh no. Oh no.

**Clack.**

He spun on his heels towards the nearby open tunnel, not thinking before he moved. He punched something square in the face, a pained yelp sounding out as something metal hit the floor. What had he just punched? Oh crap. It was another person.

"What the hell was that for?" Devin snapped, holding his now bloody nose, glaring up at West with angry red eyes. West blinked a few times, trying to remember if his eyes had been red the last time he had seen him. No, he was sure they were green. Maybe he was just remembering things wrong.

"Sorry about that.. You caught me in the middle of a panic attack." West held his hand out to Devin, the silver haired boy reluctantly letting West pull him to his feet. He brushed some dirt off of his body, wiping the scarlet stream from his nose.

"Yeah, whatever. What are you doing here? I thought you travelled with that Melanie girl." Devin wasn't even looking at West when he spoke, trying to find his glasses on the dark cave floor, lighting up when he found them.

"I came here without her. What I'm here to do.. It's too dangerous for her to be with me right now."

"Wait.. Why are you here?"

"To find Brawly. Why?"

"Is it because of the Regis?"

"How do you know about them?"

"Because one of them's chasing me right now, after beating Brawly to a pulp. We should probably run." As if on cue, the great ice type barrelled down the dark hallway, freezing everything that it touched, the dots on its body lighting up all different colours. It was Regice, both hands raised high into the air. They shot individual ice beams, covering both exits close to the boys with a thick white sheet, the only thing visible in them being their own reflections.

They couldn't run.

They had to fight.

"Torch, let's go!"

"Absol, help!

**"REGICE!"**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, finally getting into some real plot here! I hope you all enjoy the window into the mind of West, and don't hate me for making him leave Amelia! Be warned.. The next chapter may make you cry. Remember, review, review, review! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Eon Mark.**

* * *

><p>As soon as Absol had materialized in front of West, Regice brought a mighty hammer arm down on the disaster pokemon and almost crushed it against the floor, the impact shaking the entire cave, dust falling from over head. West was almost knocked off his feet, by Devin stood his ground, jabbing a finger towards Regice.<p>

"Torch, flamethrower, no holding back!" A bright red and orange jet of flames spewed from his magcargo's mouth, covering Regice with a blazing inferno, the ice type pokemon stepping back, swatting at itself to put out the flames. Absol forced itself back to its feet, giving Torch a grateful nod before turning its attention back to their attacker.

"Absol, use night slash!" The pure black blade sliced through the flames, knocking Regice almost ten feet backwards before into the wall, slumping over slowly. No way. Had they beaten it? It was too easy.

That was when a missile of pure electricity shot from between Regice's hands, exploding against both pokemon. They were flung back towards the wall, Absol slamming into West's chest hard, lifting him off his feet and into the hard stone. The impact knocked the breath out of him, leaving him gasping and trying to suck oxygen into his lungs on the ground.

Regice shot forward, much to fast for a pokemon its size and hit Torch with a hammer arm, catching it in mid air and knocking it down hard into the cave floor, cracking it. Torch let out a loud cry of pain before its head hit the floor, eyes swirled. Absol was in the exact same condition, both buys fumbling to replace their fallen pokemon.

"Ryder, psychic!"

"Marshtomp, hydro pump!" The trainers' new pokemon appeared, the togetic holding Regice in place, bright blue light shining from its eyes. Marshtomp then hit with a blast of water, pushing it back into the wall again, the mere contact covering the stone with a sheet of ice.

Regice just shrugged off the attacks again, holding both of its arms out again, firing a zap cannon from one and an ice beam from the other, obviously capable of handling two opponents at once. Marshtomp dived in front of the zap cannon, shrugging off the attack as Ryder redirected the ice beam into the wall with its psychic, freezing over another large section.

"Thanks for covering me," Devin said, not looking away from their battle, sweat breaking out of his forehead as he helped West up off of the ground.

"No problem, just stay on your toes," West answered, Regice starting to make its way forward once again. No matter what the two were doing, the iceberg pokemon just kept on coming. It wasn't looking good for them. Regice raised its arm, about to smash Marshtomp with another hammer arm, Ryder doing its best to hold it back with psychic.

"Marshtomp, double edge!" The mud fish pokemon threw itself at Regice, the pokemon trembling as they pushed against each other, both skidding backwards with a grunt. Marshtomp obviously took more damage from the attacks, seeing as double-edge was a recoil move, while Regice only had a small bruise on its arm.

A bruise non the less. Now they were getting somewhere.

At least West though they were until Regice placed its hand on Ryder's head, hitting it with a bright orange beam, smashing it down into the ground, the tiny pokemon's cry of pain filling the cave. That was hyper beam. Oh no.

"Marshtomp, brick break!" The water mud type shot forward, smashing a hard fist into Regice's gut, knocking it up into the air with quite a bit of effort. Devin's haunter, M, had taken Ryder's place, bashing Regice with a powerful shadow punch, knocking it into the dirt.

"Come on, just stay down!" Devin snapped, but Regice just pushed itself up again, dusting itself off. West let out a loud groan of frustration, hoping that they would have caught a break. Of course not.

"M, shadow ball!" The haunter fired the black blob at Regice, the attack knocked to the side harmlessly by its ice beam, exploding next to Devin. He was thrown off his feet by the impact, skidding against the floor, crying out in pain. Regice took this as its chance, blasting a hyper beam towards the downed boy.

Marshtomp threw itself in the way, getting knocked back into the cave wall, crying out as it was implanted almost two feet deep into it. Marshtomp's arms and legs hung out from the hole, its eyes swirled.

"Crap!" West returned his pokemon, replacing it with his numel, the small pokemon blasting an ember from its nose. He just hoped Numel could handle this sort of fight. "Take down!" Numel knocked Regice backwards again, a shining orange light bursting from its forehead.

"M, shadow punch!" Regice was smacked to the side, landing face down on the ground, both trainers panting as they stared at it. Devin's arm was scratched up from where it had hit the ground, chunks of rock still stuck in it. West was having trouble breathing, the impact with Absol having cracked one of his ribs, at least that's what it felt like.

Regice just pushed itself up yet again, moving towards the two boys, although it was a bit slower this time. It wasn't happening fast, but they were doing damage to it.

West just hoped they could actually stop it.

"Devin, you still have your Skarmory, right?" West asked, gripping a pokeball on his belt. Devin tilted his head, instantly cluing in.

"You want me to run."

"I can't get out of here fast enough, but I have something that I think can take on Regice. I need you to head back to Dewford and tell Melanie something for me."

"No, I'm not leaving you behind! I started this fight with you and I'll finish it with you!"

"Just do this one thing for me! I need you to find Melanie!" West snapped, pushing the button on it, a small steel pokemon popping out of it. Beldum.

"That's your last resort? A beldum?"

"Just trust me! Beldum, take down!" Beldum slammed its head into the wall of ice blocking them from running, shattering it with no problem. Devin blinked a few times, quite surprised at the tiny pokemon's power. Maybe it could handle Regice.

"Fine. What do you want to tell her?"

"Tell her I'm sorry. Now go! Numel, ember, Beldum, take down!" West rushed forward with his pokemon, shouting orders to them as they battled Regice. Devin chewed on his lip, thinking about the look in West's eyes. It was the look of a man making a last request.

So he did what he was told.

He climbed on Scar and sped off down the tunnel, not looking back. It wasn't until he had been flying for a few minutes until he saw him.

A man with black hair reaching down to his eyes sprinted past him, a huge blast of wind exploding from his shoes as he did. Running shoes. Built in jet engines. Who was that? Devin only got one good look at the man's face, freezing as soon as he recognized it.

That was Brendan. What was the hero of Hoenn doing here? Oh well, it didn't matter. He just had to find Melanie, so he kept on riding, screaming at Scar to speed up.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure it's okay for me to have this?" Amelia asked Victoria, staring at the pokeball the ginger girl had handed her. Victora answered with a thumbs up, grinning at her.<p>

"Oh yeah, for sure! That kirlia in there is bred straight from my Gallade, who's super strong and super cute! Seriously, it can handle almost any fight whatsoever, and the fact that it's differently coloured only makes it better! I remember when I found it in the Burned Tower, Ecruteak city. Have you ever heard of it? It's in the Johto region! I met this really interesting kid over there named Terry, he's definitely strange, but he can take almost anyone in a battle. He chased after this jerk who stole one of the professor's pokemon. Oops, getting off topic! The point is, that Kirlia's gonna be super strong!"

"Oh, okay. Thank you," Amelia forced a smile, but she couldn't take her mind off of West. He had only left a few hours ago, but it already felt like she hadn't seen him for months. There was a hole in her heart, one that wouldn't be filled without him. She just hoped he'd be back sooner than later.

"Is that West guy special?" Victoria asked, her voice suddenly serious, but there was a curious edge to it. She wanted to know exactly what was going on between them. After all, if she was going to set them up, she had to know their background. This was what she liked to do, set people up with each other, if she figured they should be together. It was fun.

"I guess you could say that. Without him I never would have started my journey. He introduced me to a whole new world, he even gave me my torchic. He decided I could be trusted enough to raise it. I can tell him absolutely anything, no matter what bothers me. He's just.. Always been there, and even though I've only known him about a month, he's the person I'm closest to.. And now he's just up and disappeared and I don't know what to do!" She broke down again, collapsing against Victoria and buried her head in the elder girl's chest. Victoria just ran her hand through Amelia's hair, feeling a sudden anger towards West.

How could he live with himself when he was hurting this sweet, beautiful girl so much?

He better hurry his ass up, or she was going to beat it into the ground.

* * *

><p>West hit the wall hard, grunting as he tried to keep his ground, his vision blurring around the edges. Numel had fainted and was against the wall, eyes swirled, but Beldum was still fighting. The small steel type wobbled in the air as it tried to keep itself afloat, body covered with scratches and bruises. This wasn't looking good for either of them.<p>

Regice was still standing, of course, a few more bruises decorating its body. West was pretty proud of himself for lasting so long against a legendary pokemon, but he was definitely going to lose. At least Devin had made his way out safely.

That was when Beldum was hit with another hammer arm, the small pokemon vanishing in an explosion of rock and dust. West touched the wall softly, trying to find a way to back up but he couldn't, panic rising in his throat as Regice got closer and closer, a pure white beam starting to form in its hand.

West was screwed. He was going to be frozen to death by a Regi. He closed his eyes and waited for it, hoping it would come slowly. There was a blast and a loud metallic clang, but no pain, no cold.

West wasn't sure if his death had been painless or it just plain old hadn't happened, so he decided to try and take a peek. Regice was still standing in front of him, but there was something else blocking it from view. A large, steel pokemon with four legs, shrugging off the ice beam without much trouble.

A metagross.

Beldum had skipped an entire evolution, just so it could protect him. West watched with wide eyes as Metagross slammed a glowing arm into Regice, sending the iceberg pokemon a full twenty feet backwards and into the wall, pushing back through the stone a bit. Meteor mash.

"We got this Metagross!" West called out, quickly pulling out his pokedex and scanning his new pokemon. Meteor Mash, Iron Defense, Zen Headbutt, and finally flash cannon.

There was nothing better than evolution.

"Meteor Mash!" Metagross shot forward, throwing a heavy handed punch at Regice. The large pokemon managed to dodge to the side, the attack smashing hard into the rock wall, spreading a spiderweb crack through it. Regice moved to counter with a hammer arm, but Metagross' body flashed for a second and the attack did minimal damage, thanks to iron defense.

"Zen headbutt!" Metagross smashed its forehead against Regice, sending it flying with a bright silver burst of light, Regice skidding backwards, but standing its ground. It hit Metagross with a large blast of electricity, its entire body sparking as it hit the ground. No matter how powerful Metagross was, Regice was stronger.

It formed a large hyper beam in its hands, obviously betting everything on this very last attack. The attack was almost two feet in diameter, the light from it illuminating the entire cave.

"Alright Metagross, flash cannon!" The two attacks flew at each other, clashing in midair and seeming to hang there in an endless flurry of sparks and bursts of light. West covered his eyes, trying to keep himself focused on what was happening, but the light was too bright he couldn't see.

So there was no way he could have seen the explosion coming.

"I'm sorry, Amelia.."

* * *

><p>Devin stopped in midair, pulling on Scar's head to make it turn around, watching the cave he had just been in. He could hear the ground shaking, but what was even worse was watching the cave itself. It seemed to be swaying from side to side, large chunks of rock breaking off from its mouth, splashing down into the water.<p>

"West, what the hell did you do..?"

* * *

><p>Amelia was standing at the beach, staring at the cave on route 105. Any minute now, she was going to see West swimming back to her, laughing about following some wild goose chase. That was what she was praying for.<p>

He had to come back to her. He just had to. There was no way he would leave her all alone, no matter what the emergency was, West would come back. He always came back.

Her heart shattered when she saw the cave completely collapse, a large cloud of dust rising into the air, tears streaming down her face as she fell to her knees.

"WEST!"

* * *

><p>Brendan shifted through the rubble, coughing and pushing some dirt off of his shirt. How crazy was his little brother? Would he have done something like this on purpose?<p>

It didn't matter, he had what he wanted.

Brendan stood over his unconscious brother, staring down at him over a pair of glasses. West was covered with bruises, blood staining his mahogany hair, making it look closer to black than anything else. His clothes were torn up pretty badly, showing a scratched to hell body underneath, chest rising and falling slowly. At least he was still alive.

Regice and Metagross were close by, both of them knocked out as well. Brendan walked over to Regice, pulled out a pokeball and tapped it, the iceberg pokemon vanishing inside. The ball shook pointlessly in his hand before letting out a loud ding sound, the black haired man quickly pocketing it.

He pulled West out from the stones, flipping him over. He smiled widely when he saw what he was looking for. A mark on West's right arm in the shape of a wing, the blue colour of it standing out against the rest of his skin. It seemed to be glowing before vanishing completely, seeming as if it had never been there in the first place.

"I bet you didn't even know this had shown up.. the blue eon mark. Now that I have you, I can call one of the two Eon pokemon themselves.. Latios." And he lifted West up from the ground, doing him the favor of returning Metagross.

He carried West to the edge of the island, watching the sky as a large black ship descended from behind the clouds, hovering in front of him. A large hatch on the side opened, an escalator stretching from it to the sandy beach. A man stood at the doorway, smiling down at him.

"You get what you were looking for, Boss?"

"That I did, Archie. That I did. Come on, we need to find the other eon bearer." The door closed behind him and the large ship rose back up into the sky, somehow vanishing from view despite its massive size.

That was that. West was gone, and no one had any idea where to.

Except for Devin, who had hitched a ride on the back of the ship, hanging on tight to the black metal.

"Don't worry West, I'm coming for you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, be honest.. Did this get too serious too fast? I really wanna know what you guys think, so please, review, review, review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Two months later..**

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you can't stay longer?" Victoria asked, sitting on the wooden harbor just outside of Dewford. She looked up at Amelia with wide eyes, hoping she would say yes to staying. They had been training together for two months now.<p>

"I'm sure. I need to get moving. I missed the last contest, so I can't miss this one." Amelia frowned, dipping her feet in the water as she waited for Mr. Briney to show up. Marill was swimming in the water around her, crying out happily.

Amelia had never been okay after West disappeared. She had never even smiled. She had spent the first week crying in her room at the pokemon center. They had found Brawley in the rubble, badly injured but still alive. No one else was there though.

All the officer Jennys had said that West could still be alive, just somewhere else, but Amelia didn't believe it. Something in her gut told her that West was dead, so she couldn't hold false hope. She had to move on with her life.

She had to win some contests.

"Alright, I won't stop you. But I think I'll come with you." Amelia didn't argue, just nodded. She was actually kind of thankful to have to company. She had learned to rely on Victoria in the past two months and could say with honesty, she was Amelia's best friend.

So a month ago, she had told Victoria the truth about her. Everything, from where she had grown up, to the fake name, even about the arranged marriage. Victoria hadn't seemed to mind that Amelia had been deceiving her. She seemed to love drama.

There was a loud horn as Mr. Briney drew close, the two girls waving him down. Amelia's brown hair had grown a bit during her time at Dewford, stretching down past her shoulders now. Mr. Briney pulled in at the dock, letting the two girls climb aboard.

"Where we headed?" He asked, Victoria giving him instructions to take them to Slateport city. Their next contest was in Lavaridge town, so it was going to be a pretty long journey. They would have to get bikes or something like that.

Amelia decided to let her pokemon out for some fresh air, watching them. During their training, Victoria had given her a Kirlia, and she had caught a pokemon for herself as well, bringing her team up to a full six. Her new Vibrava poked around the deck of the boat, obviously unhappy with being on the water.

Along with those two there were Nuzleaf, Elektrike, Marill, and her newly evolved Combusken. Torchic had evolved one night when Amelia was sleeping, giving her a nice heart attack in the morning. Victoria still made fun of her over it.

"So, we got a while until we get to Slateport. What do you wanna talk about?" Victoria asked, resting over the side of the boat. She had released her own pokemon, which were all pretty powerful looking. Along with Blaziken and Gallade, there were a Froslass and a Floatzel, both pokemon from Sinnoh, then an Ampharos and a Breloom. Amelia looked over her on team every time she saw Victoria's. They weren't weak, but they weren't super powerful either. Not yet, at least.

"I'm not sure. Anything, I guess," Amelia answered, running a hand through her hair absent mindedly.

"Do you miss him?" Victoria whispered, reaching out and taking Amelia's hand. Amelia softly squeezed it, giving her a wordless nod. It went without saying she missed West. He had almost been her other half.. They could have been something if he hadn't died.

"I'm so sorry about what happened. But.. I think he'd be proud of the fact you're moving on with your life, you know?" Victoria told her, lacing her fingers with Amelia's. Amelia welcomed the warmth and fell against Victoria, burying her head in her chest and whimpering. She hadn't cried since that first week.

The ride Slateport only took about two hours, most of the time the two girls spent in silence. Elektrike never left Amelia's side, constantly nuzzling close to its trainer, keeping a smile on her face. If there was one thing she could rely on, it was her pokemon.

"Hey, we're here! Let's go, let's go!" Victoria yelled, clearing the jump to the dock before Mr. Briney even came to a full stop. Amelia jumped out after her, landing down on the sand, all their pokemon crowding around them. "Welcome to Slateport city."

And it was huge. Amelia had never seen a city so huge, even at home in Rustboro. This place was just absolutely enormous. Amelia walked up the stone steps once she passed the beach, whistling at it. This was reminding her a bit of home.

"There you are Amelia." The voice made her flinch. There was no way. It couldn't be. Victoria blinked surprised at Amelia's reaction. Did she know this man?

Of course Amelia knew him. She would never forget the overwhelming presence that man gave off. How she made her teeth chatter, her heart race, and her palms sweat. The last time she had talked to him, he had tried to force an arranged marriage on him.

"Hi daddy." She whispered, and Victoria instantly stood between the two of them, holding her arms out to block Amelia from view. She could see how scared Amelia was. She had to admit, he was pretty scary.

Her father was huge with a white beard, dark brown, almost black eyes. His hair was combed backwards, cemented down with gel. His hands were folded behind his back and his chest puffed out. The suit looked like it could barely even hold him inside it. What was even more interesting were the pokeballs on his waist. Was her father a trainer?

"This is a family matter, young lady. Please step out of the way." He told her, narrowing his eyes slowly. Victoria took a nervous gulp and shook her head.

"No. Amelia is my friend." Victoria answered him, grabbing hold of one of her own pokeballs.

"I'm not here to battle with you. I'm here for my daughter, and I'd rather not injure her... Friend. She has an important obligation to us. Where's that boy you were travelling with?" Her father asked, another pang of hurt shooting through Amelia's chest.

"He's.. Not here.. Anymore." Amelia whispered, trying to keep her emotion out of her voice. Her father smirked a bit, walking over to her, shoving past Victoria a little harshly.

"So he abandoned you, huh? I can't say I'm surprised. You've never been able to keep anyone around, other than your pokemon. And even they only stay with you because they feel sorry for you." Each word jabbed into Amelia's heart like a razor hot knife, tears stinging her eyes.

"Y-you're wrong.. West didn't leave.. He.."

"My little brother is dead." Amelia's eyes snapped open and she spun on her heel, eyes wide at the man with shaggy brown hair. He had a pair of thick-rimmed glasses on, a large Sceptile standing behind him.

"Y-you.. Your West's brother?"

"Yes, I am. My name's Brendan.. And you, old man, I don't think you have a right to talk to your own daughter like that." Brendan said, moving between her and her father. The large man glared, standing over Brendan as if to prove his dominance.

"She is my daughter, I will speak to her however I want to."

"Not while I'm around. She was friends with my brother, and now he's dead. So listen to me, you pretentious ass. Family is the most important thing in the world, even more important than your business. From what I can tell, you're all about working and business. Let me guess. You arranged a marriage for her and she ran away from home?"

"What's it to you? A marriage between her an-"

"That's my point right there! You tried to make her marry someone she didn't want to. Any girl would run away from home if that happened. She left because you, you pompous prick, are a horrible father. No father would talk to their daughter that way. Now. Go home, and let her do what she wants. She's twelve. All girls her age travel."

Amelia's father looked back between her and Brendan, letting out a sigh like he couldn't be bothered to argue anymore.

"You will come home Amelia. Come on."

"N-No. I want to stay with Victoria.."

"Excuse me?"

"I want to stay on my journey! I won't get married just to boost up your stupid company! I want to keep on travelling with Nuzleaf, Combusken, Vibrava, Kirlia, Marill and Elektrike!" Amelia snapped, tears finally pouring out from her eyes. She wrapped her arms around her self, squeezing down tight. If West was still there, he would have been the one holding her.

"How dare you talk to me that way? I am your father, you will do what I say!" He snatched hold of her arm, yanking her over to him. Amelia cried out, her father's fingers locking around her with an iron grip. She could already feel the bruises forming.

Sceptile's blade was pressed to her father's neck within two seconds, the older man's eyes opening wide. He dropped Amelia, taking a nervous step backwards. Victoria ran over to Amelia, cradling the weeping girl against her chest.

"Leave. Now." Brendan snarled, Sceptile's blade slowly lowering. Amelia's father closed his eyes and left without another word, touching the cut on his neck gently.

Brendan smirked to himself as he watched her father leave. _Good. Now I have her trust.. It's only a matter of time until the mark shows itself.. I'm one step closer to ultimate power. To you, Deoxys._

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><p>Devin zipped up his Team Eon jacket, pulling the cap tight over his eyes. He had been hiding out on their flying fortress for almost three months now and he still hadn't found a way to free West. He had gone on missions for them, helped to steal pokemon, he'd even had to hurt people. He hated himself for it, but that didn't matter. What mattered was getting West back.<p>

During his time there, Devin had learned all about team Eon's plan for Latios and Latias. He also knew that West was something called the Eon bearer, the only one who could summon and control Latios.

Now, Team Eon was searching for the Latias Eon bearer. Devin had his own suspicions about it, but he couldn't know for sure until they found the Eon bearer. He was pretty sure it was Amelia, since Latios and Latias were always close to each other. He still remembered a conversation he had with West almost a month before.

_"Yeah, I loved her. I still love her. But look at me now? She always looked at me like I was some hero. Some guy who could save her from the life she lived. But I'm just me. I got caught by my brother and spend every day going through interrogation. Some hero. I'm never going to be the guy she wants me to be. But I still love her.. So find a way to get me out of here!"_

"I will, West." Devin whispered to himself, heading out for another day with Team Eon.

He just hoped he would be able to get West out before they killed him.

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><p><strong>AN: Alright, another chapter down! This is the furthest I've gone with any of my stories. And here's a little treat for you guys.. This whole story line is going to stretch into 3 different stories~**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Life takes an unexpected turn?**

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><p>"West's brother is really nice, huh? Well, he'd have to be. He saved the entire Hoenn region!" Victoria went on, Amelia's fingers shoved firmly into her ears. It had been almost two days since she had met Brendan, and it seemed like Victoria had more than a little crush on him. There was something about him that Amelia just.. Didn't trust. He had said his brother was dead with almost no pain in his voice, like he didn't even care.<p>

She didn't believe a word he said.

"Hey, Amy. Are you alright?" Victoria asked, snapping Amelia back to reality. Victoria was the only one who ever called her Amy. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't mind it too much.

"Just thinking about what Brendan said. We better get go- OOF!" A boy had barreled into Amelia at full speed, knocking her down onto her back. Amelia groaned, laying in a crumpled heap with him, her brown hair mixed with his dark blonde hair.

"Ow.. S-sorry.." He mumbled, trying to push himself off of her. They ended up face to face, staring into each other's eyes. His eyes were grey, the same colour as West's, but he was alot more pale than West. He seemed nervous, his pupils darting back and forth, but she could feel his breath on her lips. She didn't like it. He was too close. She didn't let anyone this close.

"Um.. Do you mind getting off?" Amelia asked, the boy quickly fumbling off of her, apologizing over and over again. She sighed and sat up, rubbing the back of her head. "Ow.. I bumped my head.."

Victoria reached out and pulled Amelia back up, helping the boy up afterwards. "What's your name, kid?"

"Y-yorick.."

"Yorick, huh? Alright, I'm calling you Ricky." Victoria smiled, Yorick nodding his head in acceptance. He didn't seem like the kind of person to argue if you disagree with him. Amelia frowned, slipping her hands behind her back. "I'm Victoria, this is.."

"I'm Amelia." She said, giving Victoria a look. There was no point in keeping the fake name going if her dad new what was going on now. Victoria nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. She had liked sharing that secret with Amelia.

"Nice to meet you, Amelia and Victoria." Yorick smiled, a very nice smile, even for someone who looked as frail as him. Amelia felt herself watching him a little closer than she should have and quickly turned her attention to the floor. What was that all about? "Umm.. I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble.. Would either one of you like to battle me?"

"Sure. It's a good way for trainers to get to know each other." Amelia answered, walking off without another word. Victoria knew to follow her, but Yorick stood confused for a second before jogging after them. Two minutes of silent walking later, they were at the pokemon center, standing in the battle field just outside. "One on one or what?"

"Sure, one on one works. You can send out your pokemon first." Yorick smiled again, his hand twitching with anticipation. Amelia tilted her head, seeing something in his eyes that she recognized. In them was the same fire that burned in West's. The same raging desire to battle.

Her heart couldn't take much more of this. This boy was too much like West.

"Kirlia, you're up!" The small ballerina like pokemon appeared in a flash of blue, bowing to its opponent. Kirlia smiled shyly, curtsied, and then got ready to battle. Its eyes flashed a deep blue, the rocks on the ground clattering from its psychic power. Her Kirlia was no pushover.

"A kirlia, huh? Okay then. Eevee, lets battle!" The small, brown pokemon appeared on the field, patting the dirt with its paws. It mewed loudly, narrowing its eyes. Amelia could see a spark in them as well, much like Yorick's. Her heart began to race a bit and she began to feel excited. It had been a long time since she had battled seriously. In fact, the last serious battle had been with Devin at the Petalburg contest. She still owed him for that. "Mind if we start?"

"Be my guest."

"Eevee, shadow ball!" Eevee was fast. It was into the air, only visible to Amelia as a brown blur. The black orb fired from its mouth, closing in on Kirlia like a comet. But it was ready. Kirlia spun to the side, putting its dancer like body to the test. The shadow ball exploded against the ground, creating a large dust cloud behind Kirlia.

"Kirlia, will-o-wisp!" Kirlia's eyes turned a deep black, four balls of ominous flames of the same colour appearing around it. The psychic type hurled them at top speed, zooming towards Eevee, who was dangling helplessly in the air.

"Eevee, dodge it using dig!" Yorick yelled, his pokemon following command perfectly. It dove towards the ground, vanishing underneath in a puff of dirt. Amelia smirked, obviously happy with what had just happened.

"Psychic!" Kirlia's eyes changed colour again from black to blue, but its target wasn't Eevee. A blue outline appeared around the balls of flame, all four pulling a U-turn and heading under ground, right after Eevee. The normal type pokemon cried out, bursting from the ground in a veil of black flame. "Direct hit."

"Eevee, bite!" The brown pokemon shot downwards, clamping its jaw tight around Kirlia's midsection. It cried out in pain, spinning in circles as it tried to shake its opponent off, but no such luck. Eevee had a tight hold and it wasn't letting go.

"Magical leaf!" While spinning, Kirlia unleashed a barrage of multi-coloured leaves, all circling around the two pokemon. The leaves battered into Eevee, it trying to hold onto its grip on Kirlia, but the leaves proved too much. Eevee was knocked onto its back, but it stood up again, eyes narrowed.

"You've trained your eevee really well!" Amelia called out, a proud smile appearing on Yorick's face.

"Same goes for your kirlia. This is one battle I don't want to end!" Yorick yelled out, Amelia nodding excitedly. She really had forgotten how much fun battling could be. She had spent so much time perfecting how her pokemon looked that she hadn't focused enough on creating actual battle strategies.

Yorick was a good learning experience. He used a small pokemon, but it was strong, obviously going through tough training. Amelia had to admit, she was impressed. Yorick was a good trainer.

"Eevee, double-edge!" the tiny brown pokemon charged towards Kirlia, a huge amount of orange energy swirling around its body. Amelia couldn't help but smirk again. She had him.

"Protect!" Kirlia threw up a green barrier between the two of them and Eevee drove into it full force. Sparks flew from the two attacks, but Amelia wasn't done. She had been working on this technique for the next contest. "Psychic on your protect!" Eevee struggled as the protect slowly closed around it, forming a tight dome around the young pokemon.

"No!" Yorick yelled, but it was too late. Eevee's attack exploded inside the bubble, kicking up a storm of dust inside. Kirlia released both of its attacks, letting the dust float towards the sky. Once it was cleared, Eevee lay in the middle of a small crater, its eyes swirled. It had fainted. "Drat.."

"No need to worry! You put up a helluva fight!" Amelia called out, opening her arms for Kirlia to jump into them. She walked over to Yorick, pokemon snuggling up to her lovingly. "It's not often you meet an Eevee that strong."

"Thanks," Yorick said, his partner vanishing back inside of its pokeball. The look on his face was enough to see he wasn't happy with the loss. He was probably one of those people who always wanted to win, no matter what. Though, that would be most pokemon trainers, if you thought about it.

"No need to be so sour! This was just a practice battle, remember?" Amelia said, giving him a few reassuring pats on the shoulder, an almost comically sized grin on her face. It was obvious that she was faking the smile, at least to Victoria anyway. It had been a long time since she had smiled properly. She had never been the same since West disappeared. She loved him.

"We haven't won a match in over a month! How am I supposed to be che-" BOOM! The sounds of an explosion drowned out Yorick's shouting, all three teens whipping their heads to see the source. About two miles away, somewhere near the cyclist path, smoke wafted up towards the clouds. The dancing lights of flames were at its base and they seemed to be getting larger. "That's the day care!" And off he went, vanishing into the trees.

"Hey wait! Ugh, he's gone! Come on, Amy, we gotta help!" Victoria grabbed Amelia by the wrist and pulled her off, the younger girl not bothering to argue. She knew how Victoria worked and, unless you wanted to get an earful, you should just go along with whatever she told you to do. It was almost an unspoken rule.

As they drew closer and closer to the day care, the smell of smoke filled their nostrils. Amelia started coughing once they were close enough to see the day care, eyes almost as round as dinner plates.

The entire building was on fire. Pokemon ran in each and every direction, frantic and terrified. Yorick was there, waving the pokemon towards the forest, helping them to escape.

And then a gigantic stone arm closed around his chest, lifting him up and off the ground. The arm belonged to a pokemon that looked like one of those stone statue action figures that a kid could win at a crappy festival. But this wasn't one of them. This was Regirock.

"What the hell is something like that doing here?" Amelia yelled, but Victoria wasn't listening. In fact she looked.. Excited? Fire danced in her eyes as she pulled a pokeball from her belt, tossing it into the air.

"Breloom, time to party!" The mushroom pokemon appeared in front of its trainer, tail slapping the ground a few times and a loud battle cry erupting from its mouth. Regirock turned towards them, the flashing lights on its face flaring. It was ready for a battle.. So it dropped Yorick, taking a step forward.

"Lemme help!" Amelia said, releasing one of her own pokemon, her marill. Marill flinched under the gaze of Regirock, but shook itself off quickly, getting ready for battle. But Victoria just shook her head, gesturing to the burning building.

"You worry about putting out the fire. I can handle this."

"But.."

"Have you ever beaten me, even once?" That shut Amelia up. She nodded and ran towards the building with Marill, leaving Victoria alone, but she didn't seem to mind. She had been longing for a battle like this one. The chance to take on a legendary pokemon was just too good to pass up.

"Breloom, force palm!" And it began. Breloom shot forward, its stubby arm driving home into Regirock's chest. The two seemed to freeze for a moment before a blast of energy shot from Breloom's hand, forcing Regirock to skid back a few feet. "Guess it would take more than that. Energy ball!" Before Regirock had a chance to steady itself, a bright green blast shot from Breloom's mouth, exploding on impact. Victoria had it on the run. "Mach punch!" Breloom was on Regirock again, smashing its fist into Regirock's rock hard chest for the second time. It actually lifted almost a foot off the ground before landing again, a cry of anger shaking the ground. "Looks like I only made it mad.."

Regirock took hold of Breloom, squeezing the grass type close to its chest, its entire body covering itself with a dark red light. It dropped Breloom, the crushing grip having left the pokemon dazed. Then it spun, its fist smashing into Breloom with all the force of a truck, launching it back through the trees. At least three of them broke before Breloom finally hit the ground, covered with bruises. But it wasn't out yet. It stood up, letting out a defiant cry.

"So it knows super power.. Alright, Breloom giga drain!" Large tendrils shot out of Breloom's back, wrapping around Regirock's arm. The much larger pokemon cried out in pain, slumping down to one knee as Brelooms injuries started to heal. It was stealing Regirock's own energy to heal itself.

And then it pulled. Breloom was yanked off of its feet and flew straight towards Regirock, who intercepted it with a very well placed mega punch. Breloom cried out in pain as it smashed into the dirt, eyes swirled this time. Regirock had bested it.

"Crap!" Victoria quickly withdrew Breloom, replacing it with another one of her pokemon, Blaziken. Surely her best battler would be able to put this monster down. "Double kick!" Blaziken rushed forward, leaping high into the air and placing two well aimed kicks to Regirock's chest yet again. Hitting the same spot multiple times seemed to be putting at least some pressure on it. Regirock was moving a bit slower now. She had to be doing some damage..

And then a barrage of jagged stones shot out from Regirock's body, battering Blaziken. Stone edge. Blaziken lifted its arms to defend itself, but it didn't seem to help much, if any. Blaziken stood there, that one attack covering its red body with bruises.

Regirock shot forward, swinging its arm for another mega punch. Blaziken dropped under it, countering with a sky uppercut. The impact almost shook the ground as Regirock shot a good ten feet into the air. She had him.

"Double kick!" Blaziken jumped after it, hitting Regirock with another pair of kicks.. And then its stone arms closed around Blaziken. Regirock began to spin in the air, a feeling of dread rising in Victoria's stomach. "Seismic toss.." And Regirock shot to the ground, waiting until the last minute to heave Blaziken at it. Blaziken hit the ground, the dirt and stone giving way underneath it to form a crater almost ten feet deep. Victoria didn't even have to look to know Blaziken was down for the count.

"Damn, damn, damn!" Victoria reached for another pokeball, but didn't get the chance. A yellow, furry hand grabbed her arm, sending a blast of electricity through her body. She screamed and dropped to the floor, unconscious. Standing above her was a man wearing a bright silver jacket with a large E printed on the right side of the chest, a cap pulled down over his eyes. His mouth was covered by a mask, but she could hear him whisper just one thing before the world went dark.

"Keep Amelia safe and tell her West is waiting." And he held up a pokeball, staring at Regirock. Had he been giving it orders this entire time? Regirock vanished inside of it and the boy turned away, an Electabuzz following him. From the way it was looking at him though, it didn't seem to belong to him. But she did recognize the voice.. She had heard it on tv numerous times. She had even battled a boy with the exact same voice.

Devin Powell.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the wait guys! But what did you think? I'm on summer vacation now so expect a lot more updates! Lemme know what you thought though, so be sure to read and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: The Eon Mark's awakening.**

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><p>"What's happening? Someone, find him! The Boss is going to kill us!" These kinds of shouts could be heard around the entire floating fortress of Team Eon. They were in a panic, trying to find a certain missing boy that had vanished from his cell in the middle of the night. Along with all his pokeballs. Devin was watching them from a small indent in a hallway wall, smirking to himself as they scurried about.<p>

"Alright, step one is over. Ready for step two?" He asked the boy sitting next to him, stormy grey eyes full of determination. Those eyes still scared Devin a bit. He wasn't used to seeing West so fired up, but it couldn't be a bad thing.

"Let's do it." West said, standing up and patting himself off. He knew they weren't going to get out of the fortress without a fight. The trick was to keep the amount of fighting to a minimum. Attracted less attention that way.

Devin scanned the hallway quickly, then gave West the thumbs up to move out. They ran down the hall, repeating the process about ten times or so. They would hide in the wall, wait for people to pass by, and then take off again.

"Come on, just a bit further," Devin whispered, but West had stopped in his tracks. Devin turned to see him staring into a room, eyes wide. Inside.. Were all three Regis. They were locked up in cages and, no matter how hard they pounded against the bars, they couldn't break free. They were trapped.

"I was angry at Regice before for what happened but.. It was just defending its territory. We're the ones at fault, not it." West whispered to Devin, or it might have been himself. He had a far away look in his eye.

"Look, we can feel bad for them later.. Right now, we need to get going." Devin urged him, giving West's sleeve a sharp tug. That brought him back to reality and he nodded, the two of them running down the hallway again. "You sure that you only wanted me to get two pokemon from Professor Birch?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. These two are fine.. It gives me a full team, after all." West smiled, to which Devin could only nod. West's team had gotten stronger, even while in captivity. Every chance he could get, Devin would practice with him and now.. There wasn't much that could stand in West's way. He didn't think even the league champion could handle him.

"Found them!" Devin looked up to see two people standing in front of him, scowling. Archie and Maxie. The old leaders of Team Aqua and Team Magma. Brendan had recruited them when he first created Team Eon, promising them as much power as they could possibly want. For them, that meant getting Groundon and Kyogre back in their possession.

"Get out of the way." West snarled, stepping forward. The two shared a sneer and took hold of pokeballs on their belts, each releasing one, West and Devin following suit. After a great flash of light, there were four pokemon staring each other down in the hallway. A houndoom, a walrein, Devin's skarmory, and one of the pokemon West had his dad send over. His dusclops.

"Dusclops, use Gravity." West didn't even look as he gave the order. Dusclops held its hands out and the air suddenly felt like it weighed over a thousand pounds. Maxie and Archie were forced to their bellies, along with their pokemon. Devin's eyes were shut tight, preparing for the crushing force, but none came. There was a thin coating of blue psychic energy around himself and Scar. It wasn't Dusclops' doing, he could tell that much. What he could see was a faint glow from the inside of West's right sleeve. The Eon mark.

"Let's go," West told him, climbing up and onto Dusclops' back. Devin did the same, crawling onto Skarmory's back.. And the two pokemon flew off down the hall. Devin couldn't help but look back at the two who tried to stop them. He actually felt a little bad for them. He couldn't imagine how much it hurt to have your entire body forced to the ground like that.

After about five minutes of flying down hallways, Devin finally found what they needed. It was an escape route he had been setting up for months now. It wasn't all that impressive, just a continuous hole he had dug into the wall that led straight to escape pods. It didn't matter though. It would get the job done.

After returning both their pokemon, the two boys began belly crawling through the hole. West let Devin take the lead. He knew the way. Being in that confined space.. Gave them a lot of time to talk.

"Is it true? You destroyed the day care?" West asked, trying to keep all and any judgement out of his voice. He hadn't said anything about it before, but he was pretty angry about it. Even if it was just to keep his cover from being blown, doing something that horrible.. West just couldn't approve.

"I had to.. And I had to do it as quickly as possible. It gave me time to come back here and bust you out." Devin responded. West couldn't see it, but there was a look of guilt on his face. Doing what he had done.. He didn't enjoy it. He hated himself for it. "I saw Amelia while I was there. She put out the fire.. She saved all the pokemon. She was incredible."

"She.. Was there? How was she? Did you get to talk to her?" The questions kept flying and Devin could only shake his head. He didn't reveal himself to Amelia. He couldn't have. Not after everything he had done. He was too ashamed.

"She considered me to be her rival, you know. And everything was friendly between us. Yeah, we argued with each other but our battle.. it was just too much fun. But now? If I talk to her, all she'll do is like at me with disgust. I joined the bad guys, West. I've hurt people for them."

"All to get me out."

"So? I've still done horrible things! I could've just busted you out the day I got here but I didn't."

"We would have both been killed."

"You don't know that."

"Yeah, I do. If everyone had been here, we would have been slaughtered and you know that," West snapped at him, starting to get angry now. He hated it when people felt sorry for themselves. Devin had no reason to. He was a good guy.. He was thrown into a really bad situation, but he was a good guy.

"We're here." Well, that was the end of that conversation. The two boys dropped from the hole in the wall to the hangar bay, checking the room quickly. No one seemed to be there. Good. "The pods are over this way."

Running along the catwalk, West thought to himself, this is all to easy. There was no way they wouldn't be found out like this. Archie and Maxie were sure to be back up by now. Why weren't they being chased?

West almost bumped into Devin as he stood at a control panel, typing in a few quick commands. The walls opened around them and two large silver oval pods slipped from the holes. They looked almost like moon stones, based on their shape. "Get in."

"Wait." Devin held his hand out in front of the pod, frowning at it. Again, this was all too easy. It had to be a trap. The hangar doors were already opening now, thanks to a few commands Devin had put in.

"What are we just standing around here for? They're gonna f- WHOA!" West had grabbed Devin and thrown the both of them over the railing.. And out into the open air. What the hell? Devin stared down as the ground below them was rushing up to meet them, his team Eon hat blowing off into the wind. "Why did you do that?"

West pulled his sleeve up, the blue wing on his arm lighting up like a firework. "Calling for our ride." Devin stared at him, half sure that he had gone crazy when it happened.

A claw closed around the back of his shirt and he was thrown up onto Latios' back. West landed in front of him a second after, petting the top of the blue Eon pokemon's head. "Thanks.. After talking for all this time, we finally get to meet. Now lets go."

Latios cried out to agree, a shill cry that made Devin feel.. Safe. He was sitting on the back of Latios. Latios! And what did West mean by talking? He didn't get time to ask before Latios took off towards the ground, Devin screaming for dear life as he tried to hold on to its skin.

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><p>"Ow!" Amelia cried out, touching her left arm. Victoria was sat in one of the pokemon center beds, recovering after her electrocution. Her body hadn't sustained any real damage, but she still had to rest up for a few days.<p>

"What's wrong?" She asked, reaching over Amelia. The girl just shook her head, smiling up at her friend reassuringly.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," She lied. She didn't want Victoria worrying over her, especially not with the position she was in. Her arm was starting to really burn though.. It felt like the skin was melting. "I gotta go to the bathroom though." And she ran off, covering the spot. She ran straight past Yorick, who was carrying a plate of food in for Victoria.

"What's the rush?"

"Cramps!" He didn't question. He just let her be. Amelia almost broke the door off its hinges as she ran into the washroom, staring at herself in the mirror. A red wing was starting to draw itself into her skin, a faint light shining from it. "What the hell.. What the hell?" She cried out, clawing at her arm, trying to get it to stop. Steam was rising from her skin now as she slipped to her knees, biting her lip in pain.

Finally, it was all over. No more burning. No more steam. Amelia stood up on shaky legs, slowly turning her head, scared of what she would see. Sure enough, there was a red wing drawn onto her left arm. She reached over slowly, touching her fingers to the skin.

And then all hell broke loose.

The wing shone brightly for a moment, a loud screeching noise sounding out from it. Amelia covered her ears from the sound, screaming as all the mirrors inside the washroom burst, along with the lights. Glass showered down around her, getting stuck in her hair and clothes.

"Stop!" She wailed, backing up to the wall. The sound only continued though, cracks appearing in the concrete walls around her. The toilets exploded in their stalls, water erupting from them. The water began to spin around Amelia, the red light making it seem almost blood red. Amelia was crying now, her heart pounding in her chest. She had no idea what to do. She was terrified. Was all this happening because of her? No way, that was impossible.. Right?

"I SAID STOP!" She shouted out, a blazing pain seeing behind her ears. Just for a moment she could see it in a mirror shard.. But her eyes changed to a deep red color.

Everything fell around her, pieces of wall, toilet, water and glass crashing to the floor around the frightened twelve year old. She gripped her shirt tightly, sobbing as she slid down the wall behind her. Her entire body was shaking and she was fighting for breath. She didn't understand anything that had just happened.

_Hello?_

Amelia almost jumped when she heard a voice, looking around quickly. There was no one else in the room besides her. "Wh-who's there?"

_Yay! You can finally hear me! I'm so happy!_

"I'm losing my mind," Amelia whined, gripping the top of her head. She was talking to people who weren't there.. But after the magic show that had just happened, anything was possible. "Who are you?"

_My name is Latias. I know this is sudden, but I need your help. We need to find your lover._

"What?"

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so, I know this chapter was kinda short but I feel like I got a lot done in this chapter. Hands up for everyone who saw this cliche coming! Lol so, we're gonna be getting into the second half/climax of this story soon. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me through my incredibly slow updates. ^_^" Please remember to read and review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: West meets...?**

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><p>"Eat up, guys. We got a long day ahead of us," West told his pokemon, sitting with them in a large circle. They had managed to find a place to stay in Lavaridge Town, but the only one who really seemed to be enjoying the weather there was Camerupt. West had to admit, it was exciting having a full team of pokemon with him. Especially the powerful lot he had.<p>

Swampert. Dusclops. Camerupt. Metagross. Absol. Heracross. He was seriously proud of his team. He was going to go far with these guys. He knew it.

Then there was Latios. The blue eon pokemon had showed up and left just as quickly. Apparently, it was only there to help West when he needed it. It wasn't planning on sticking around for hours on end once West was safe.

"Guess Latias is the social one.." He mumbled to himself, laying out bowls of food for each of his pokemon. He sat down once he was finished, happily watching them eat. He had noticed a while ago alot of his pokemon had the same personality type. They were quiet, anti social. Everything.

Alot like him.

Still, he found himself thinking about Amelia. Was she okay? Did she know he was alive? Maybe it was better if he stayed away from her. Then she wouldn't have to get involved in all of this. It was his family's fight. Brendan was his responsibility. That was what he had told Devin when he asked him to leave. That had not been a fun conversation. He needed Devin to go find Amelia and make sure that she was alright. She was all that mattered.

While West was thinking about all this, he heard some people chatting just a few rows over in the pokemon center. Being the kind, considerate person he was.. He decided to eavesdrop. It was two young girls, maybe about nine years old.

"Have you heard? They're going to be holding a pokemon contest here, Lucy!" One practically squealed, bright green emerald eyes sparkling with excitement. Her hair was long and black, stretching right down to the backs of her knees. She also had a small pokemon standing next to her. A pichu, from the looks of it.

"I know, Emma! It's going to be awesome! Do you think Devin's going to be there?" The other girl, Lucy, chimed in. She was shorter than the other girl, with blonde hair cropped right below her ears, along with bright blue eyes. Next to her was another small pokemon. A phanpy?

"I hope so! That other girl, Melanie, I wanna see her perform again. All her pokemon were sooooo cute!" West bit back a laugh as he listened to them, absently running a hand through Absol's fur. He missed the days of being a kid. He was twelve now.. He had to start growing up.

Wait, scratch that. Thirteen.

Today was his birthday. Normally, it would have been the first thing on his mind but now? It just didn't seem to matter. Who cared if he was a year older or not? Bad things were happening and he had to stop them.

"Happy birthday to me." He whispered, pulling something out of his pocket. It was a picture that had been taken years ago. There was a much younger Brendan in the picture, back when he had just turned sixteen. He was holding a four year old West on his shoulders, letting the younger boy wear his hat. West still had that hat. He kept it in his bag at all times.

There was one other person in the picture as well. May. She had been Brendan's best friend and girlfriend for a while. She left to travel other regions though and West hadn't seen her since. He missed her a lot. She was the one who had gotten him interested in pokemon in the first place. Not Brendan.

"If you were here.. You could talk some sense into him. Cuz I sure as hell can't." West slipped the picture back into his pocket and stood up, stretching himself out. His pokemon were just about finished eating now, so they were ready for training. "Lets go, guys!"

As West walked to the entrance, a boy walked inside. West froze when he saw him, tilting his head slightly. Why had he stopped? He would normally just walk past anyone.. Why had he stopped for this boy? West couldn't even see his face. It was covered up by a red hat.

"Excuse me.. I'd like to get by," West said, but the boy didn't move. He just stared at West with intense eyes, peeking out from the shadow of his hat. Then, a small smirk slipped onto his lips. He gestured to West's pokemon, mainly pointing at Swampert. "You want to battle me?" West asked, to which the boy just nodded.

_Okay, this kid is weird.._West thought to himself, following him outside. The other boy stood at the furthest end of the small arena, unclipping a pokeball from his belt without a word. West nudged Heracross' back, the large bug type taking its place in the ring.

"What sort of battle are we having?" West yelled out, shifting some of his hair from his eyes. The boy answered by holding up two fingers. "A double battle?" He nodded. "Well, okay then. Dusclops, you too." In about five seconds, both of West's pokemon were in their places. He had to admit, he was curious to see what pokemon this other boy had.

The boy tossed two pokeballs up into the air, another small smirk appearing on his face. They exploded in midair and out of them came two.. Very large pokemon. One looked like an orange dragon, roaring loudly, a flame blazing at the end of its tail.. A charizard. Holy crap. The other was a huge pokemon with a very round belly and closed eyes.. A snorlax.

"Alright then.. Heracross, use brick break on the snorlax! Dusclops, use gravity to keep that charizard on the ground!" West called out. His pokemon followed their orders perfectly. Heracross' back snapped open to reveal two wings and it launched itself forward, bringing its glowing white fist into snorlax's stomach. Dusclops held out both its hands and a crushing feeling came over the pokemon, keeping their feet pinned to the ground. "Awesome job!"

"Snorlax, fissure." That was the first time he spoke. Snorlax's entire body trembled before grinding a fist down hard on Heracross, crushing its body against the ground. Heracross cried out as the earth underneath it was split apart into a large chasm. Snorlax forced it further and further down into the earth until only the tip of its horn was visible.

"Heracross!" West shouted out, but there was no point. Fissure was a one hit K.O move. West had already lost one pokemon.. Holy crap. He returned his partner quickly, swallowing a nervous gulp. This was getting bad.. Very bad.

"Charizard, flame thrower."

"Dusclops, counter with shadow ball!" Both pokemon shot off their attacks simultaneously, colliding in midair. The shadow ball struggled against the flames for a moment before both exploded, coating the field with fire and smoke. West was having a mild panic attack. If Snorlax got Dusclops with fissure as well, this would be all over. He had to be careful.

"Now, Dusclops, use ominous wind!" With a quick flick of its wrists, Dusclops fired a gale of black wind at its opponents, but it only seemed to effect charizard. The large dragon covered itself up with both hands and wings, managing to minimize the damage from the attack. "Why didn't it work on snorlax?"

"Ghost type moves don't damage a normal type pokemon. Vice versa. It's basic.. Snorlax, rock slide." Snorlax shoved its hands into the ground and with a mighty roar, ripped up the very earth. Over half a dozen boulders flew towards Dusclops, zeroing in quickly.

"Dusclops, use gravity!" The boulders were all covered with a thin, black veil before crashing down to the ground, leaving large dents all over. West wouldn't have any time to relax though.. Taking on two pokemon with just one was hard work.

"Charizard, blast burn." West's eyes instantly fixed on Charizard, whose entire body was shining a faint red. Blast burn? Even though he was a professor's sun, he had never heard of that move before. It had to be powerful though.. Very powerful. The air itself was getting hotter and hotter. Charizard's eyes snapped open a flames just exploded out from its body, heading straight for Dusclops.

"Dusclops, dodge it!" West shouted out, his pokemon doing exactly what he said. Dusclops leaped up and over the flames, but West still had to cover himself from them. He had just met this kid in a random pokemon center.. But he was in the most intense battle of his life. "Dusclops, dark pulse!" The ghost type held one hand out, firing a blast of black energy straight down onto snorlax. The huge pokemon shouted out in pain, nearly falling onto its back from the attack. "Now, follow up with shadow ball!" In midair Dusclops spun, forming another black blob in its hand. It launched the attack at Charizard, catching it right in the side of the head. Dusclops landed again, looking positively bad ass.

The attacks didn't look like they had done much damage though. Both pokemon straightened themselves out, looking relatively injury free. Charizard just had a couple bruises on the side of its face. That was it.

"What does it take..?" West mumbled, getting ready to attack again when the boy held up his hand. "Huh? What is it?"

"Have Dusclops take this. Trust me," the boy said, pulling a small black piece of cloth from his back pocket. He threw it to Dusclops, who caught it hesitantly.. And instantly erupted into a blast of white light. West's eyes widened as Dusclops grew about two feet, but both of its legs disappeared. Its body became much more bulky, hands and arms much larger. Its head became smaller and there was just a red light in the middle of its head where its eye should be.

Dusclops evolved into Dusknoir.

"Awesome! Thanks!" West shouted out, fist pumping. He could already tell.. Dusknoir was a helluva lot stronger than he had been before. "Dusknoir, shadow ball!" Dusknoir molded together a black blob almost double the size of the one it had used before in its hands, hurling it at Charizard.

"Now we can battle at full strength. Charizard, block it with dragon pulse! Snorlax, rush Dusknoir with outrage!" Charizard fired a great blue ball from its mouth, the two attacks obliterating one another instantly. Snorlax stomped over to Dusknoir, unleashing a flurry of punches. Dusknoir slipped between them, and each time Snorlax's fist hit the ground, it would leave a small hole.

"Dark pulse!" Dusknoir slapped its hand onto Snorlax's stomach, hitting it point blank with the black blast of energy. Snorlax was lifted off its feet and crashed onto the ground about twenty feet away from Dusknoir, digging a small trench into the dirt, but it got up again, although it was wobbling this time. "We got this Dusknoir, we got this.."

"Sorry.. But I'm going to win this. Charizard, air slash." Charizard howled and snapped its wings open, unleashing a sharp blade made of pure wind. The attack slammed into Dusknoir, knocking it backwards a few feet.. Right into Snorlax's stomach. How had it gotten around Dusknoir? West hadn't even seen it! "Fissure!"

"Dusknoir, ominous wind!" With both hands pointed at the ground, Dusknoir fired the ghostly gale from its palms, sending it rocketing upward. Snorlax's hand connected with the ground, but no Dusknoir. The ground was split apart once again, but there was no real damage done.. Though a few people in the crowd did have to move out of the way.

_Wait, crowd?_For the first time since the battle began, West realized that they had an audience of at least fifty people. They were murmuring to each other, gripping each others sleeves with excitement, the whole deal. It was like they were watching a pokemon league battle. Were West and this boy really putting on that much of a show? For a moment, West saw a boy with black hair chatting to someone that looked like Victoria.. But there was no way that she would be here. Though, that was her hair color.

Not important. This battle was what was important.

"Dusknoir, gravity again!" Dusknoir held both of its hands out, covering the entire battle field with a harsh pressure. Charizard's feet dug into the earth as it tried to keep standing, angling its head up at Dusknoir.

"Dragon pulse!" Charizard fired the blue energy ball straight up, leaving Dusknoir no chance to dodge it this time. The attack connected and exploded on impact, sending Dusknoir hurtling towards the ground again, smoke pluming from its body. This was getting intense.. Really, really intense.

"Dusknoir, shadow ball!" With a mighty throw, Dusknoir sent the black orb straight at Charizard. The attack drove into its stomach and launched it out of the arena, crashing into a nearby tree. The tree collapsed to its side, along with Charizard, the fire type's eyes swirled. He had beaten one of his pokemon. Now, it was just Snorlax.

"Snorlax, rock slide!" Snorlax chucked the boulders from before at Dusknoir, each and every one hitting its target. Dusknoir hit the ground hard, trying to push itself back up, its body decorated with bruises.

"Come on Dusknoir! Use dark pulse, now!" West cried out, his heart pounding like a jack hammer in his chest. The fight was down to its final legs.. He had to make sure Dusknoir came out on top. He had never wanted to win a battle so badly in his entire life.

Dusknoir stood and fired the dark energy at Snorlax yet again, but the normal type just covered itself with its arms, blocking most of the damage. Snorlax obviously had a lot more stamina than Dusknoir. Its attacks were powerful too. West wasn't sure how he was going to get the upper hand here.

"Snorlax, fissure!" Snorlax stood over Dusknoir, hand held high. Dusknoir darted to get out of the way but was yanked backwards, face planting the dirt. Snorlax's foot was stepping on the end of Dusknoir's tail.. It had nowhere to go. So West could only watch as his pokemon was shoved into the ground, the earth beneath them trembling as the battle ended.

West had lost.. He lost. Even with his new team.. He still lost. It was just like with Regice. He couldn't pull it off. He was useless.

"You did an awesome job, Dusknoir." West forced a smile as he returned his pokemon, looking up at his opponent. "That was a hell of a battle.. Thanks for that. Seriously. I had a ton of fun." The boy nodded as he returned his pokemon, starting to walk towards the forest. He was already leaving? Huh. That was weird.. Oh well.

"Oh! What's your name?" West shouted out, barely even noticing the crowd around them starting to disperse. His entire attention was focused on the boy he had just battled.

"Red." He said simply and for a split second, West thought he saw a small green pokemon land on Red's shoulders before.. They both just vanished. Poof. Gone. Like he had never been there in the first place.

"Red? Where have I heard that name before..? Oh well. Time to get some lunch!" West stretched, turning around to walk back towards the pokemon center.. But then he froze. His heart went dead in his chest. Eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Standing in front of him was a girl with long brown hair stretching to her shoulders, green eyes staring at him just the same way he was staring at her.

Why was she here? Of all places, why was she here?

"West.."

"Hey.. Amelia.."

"You JERK!" And she tackled him, wrapping both arms around his neck tightly, tears pouring from her eyes. West stumbled before falling backwards, staring at her. She called him a jerk then she hugged him? What the hell was up with that?

West opened his mouth to say something when Amelia's face was suddenly in front of his.. And then his mouth was covered. Her lips had pressed to his, hands tightening around his neck. Her whole body was still trembling and West could taste her tears on her lips, but he didn't push her away. He held her against him, kissing back.

Bright light exploded from their Eon Marks simultaneously, wrapping around the two teens. Victoria and Yorick stood, watching awkwardly as the two kissed.. But when the light faded, they were gone.

"What the hell?" Victoria shouted, looking around. "Where did they go?"

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><p><strong>AN: Okay guys, I know that meeting may have been a little rushed but.. If you were reading properly, there's a perfectly valid reason for Amelia to be there. This story isn't turning out to be as long as I hoped and I'll probably have it wrapped up within the next ten chapters or so.. But this is just part one of three. So. Remember, review, review, review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: The Beginning of the End.**

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><p>"Where are we?" Amelia whispered, gripping West's hand as they walked through.. Nothing. Literally nothing. They were in an empty white space that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Their footsteps made no sounds. There was no wind. Nothing.<p>

"I have no idea.." West answered, turning on the spot slowly. They both still had all their pokeballs, so they wouldn't be defenceless if something attacked them. They could protect each other. He just had no idea quite where they were or why they were there. "Ow!"

"What is it?" Amelia asked, but then she felt it too.. A blazing pain from the red wing on her arm. West's was shining a bright blue, completely illuminating the white space around them. That was when the two could see the paintings. The entire room was covered with paintings of pokemon, from a small cat-like being to a huge dragon soaring through the skies.

"Looks like I have visitors.." West spun around, reaching for a pokeball on his waist. There was no one behind them, only a pokemon from the looks of it. The pokemon was small and white, with a closed eye on its stomach. It had small tendrils dangling from the yellow helmet-shape on its head, almost like the pieces of paper you would write a wish on. "My name is Jirachi and welcome to the Space Between."

"The what..?" Amelia asked, taking a step towards the small pokemon. West could see from the look on her face.. She was confused as all holy hell. No one could really blame her though. Going through something like this would be enough to drive anybody insane. He was actually proud of her for hanging on this long.

"The Space Between is where I hold Deoxys from breaking free.." Jirachi flew over slowly and landed on Amelia's shoulder, staring at the mark for a moment. "Ah.. So it's that time now."

"What time? What's going on?" Amelia demanded, putting a bit more force into her voice than she meant to. Jirachi gave her a look and flew around so it was in front of her, staring her right in the eyes.

"The Eon Marks only appear when the world is about to fall into great jeopardy. I can only assume that it is Deoxys. He will be freed soon," Jirachi explained, floating away from the two children again. They shared a quick look before West ran up to catch Jirachi, clamping his hands around it.

"What exactly IS Deoxys?" West asked, eyes narrowed. He still wasn't the most patient guy in the world. Amelia sighed to herself as he watched him, walking up and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy, West."

"Deoxys is a pokemon not of your world. It came from a world far beyond the stars for reasons unknown. More importantly, it possesses terrifying psychic powers. It is easily the most powerful pokemon in existence. Latios and Latias first battled it many years ago and were nearly defeated, mind you. Until they came to me asking for help. They asked me to find a way to seal up Deoxys."

"So you trapped yourself in here with it.." Amelia whispered, earning a small nod from Jirachi.

"Exactly. I have been battling with Deoxys' latent psychic abilities for some time now. It is beginning to over power me.. I fear there really is no way to stop Deoxys from returning."

"What if we defeat it here? Then it can't return, right? If we bring Latios and Latias here, I'm sure we could!" West argued, clenching his hands tightly. He couldn't stand for this.. Was this what his brother had been striving for? To capture Deoxys?

"That's impossible. Deoxys is too powerful for you two to defeat. Our only hope is to ready your world for Deoxys' return."

"No, I won't accept that. I'll defeat Deoxys on my own if I have to!" West shouted, eyes widening when he felt a hand on his. He turned to see Amelia staring at him with harsh eyes, shaking her head.

"We'll defeat him together, idiot. I'm not letting you run off again. I lost you once already and I just got you back," Amelia's voice nearly broke as she spoke, but her eyes didn't waver. She couldn't stand the idea of losing West again. It had nearly killed her the first time.

"Right.. Sorry," West whispered, eyes widening when all of their pokeballs suddenly snapped open. Each of their pokemon surrounded them, standing in perfect circles of six. Amelia gave a look to her team and bit her bottom lip gently as she looked over at West's. His team was much more powerful looking.. And they had all reached their final forms. He was going to be alot more useful in the upcoming battle than she was.

Oh, she was wrong.

Combusken, Kirlia, Marill, Elektrike, Nuzleaf and Vibrava all suddenly erupted into a bright white light, forcing her to cover her eyes. What the hell was going on? Were they all evolving? The whole process took about a minute, leaving her with a brand new team.

Blaziken.

Gardevoir.

Azumarill.

Manectric.

Shiftry.

Flygon.

"Wh-what? How did that.. What just.." Amelia stuttered, trying to come to grips with it. Jirachi floated in mid air, holding its tiny arms out, a faint light disappearing from around its body.

"There. Now you'll be just as useful as West in the upcoming battle.." Jirachi smiled and that was when Amelia noticed. The eye on Jirachi's stomach had opened up, but it was slowly starting to close again. Had Jirachi caused her pokemon to evolve?

"Thank you, Jirachi.. Seriously." Amelia smiled, turning to her new pokemon. They all looked pretty confused, but none of them were unhappy. In fact, Blaziken was flat out delighted. It was throwing blaze kicks left and right, scorching the very air. Amelia couldn't help but giggle, kneeling down and petting the top of Manectric's head gently.

"Jirachi, I have a question for you. If you don't mind." West stepped forward, staring at Jirachi. The tiny pokemon turned to face him, floating up so their eyes were level.

"What is it?"

"Do we.. Win?" West whispered, obviously looking.. Concerned. He still had no idea if he was ready for the battle with Brendan that was sure to come. It would be practically impossible to win this sort of thing.. Though he still had no idea what Brendan was really up to.

Jirachi's eyes flashed for a moment, the large eye on its stomach opening wide. It touched a tiny hand to Brendan's head, giving him a quick glimpse into the future. Very, very brief.

West was floating above a battle field from the looks of it, but nowhere he had ever seen before. It definitely wasn't in Hoenn, that was for sure. Two boys stood in the center of the field, flames scorching around them. The sky was a jet black, lightning crackling overhead. One of the boys had a large penguin type pokemon in front of him, though its wings seemed to be made completely of steel with spikes on the underside of its flippers.

"That boy is Evan Azure," Jirachi's voice appeared from next to West, his head snapping around quickly. Azure? Wasn't that Amelia's last name? He repeated the thought to Jirachi, who just nodded. "This is where the true ending to your battle takes place. I do not know if you vanquish Brendan or not.. But if you do, this is where it leads. To these two boys. Evan and Theodore."

"So.. We aren't even a part of it anymore? What the hell is that?!" West shouted, but Jirachi just held up its hand to silence him.

"Don't be angry with me. It's not my fault.. This is how fate has chosen it. Now, you have to go."

"Go where?"

"Defeat your brother, of course. You need Latias and Latios' help for this.. So be ready." Jirachi gave West a quick smirk before its entire body erupted into a bright white glow.

And then West was falling, reaching out for Amelia next to him.

"Good luck, you two."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The awaited showdown! West vs. Brendan! **

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><p>West appeared over Team Eon's floating fortress. Amelia was nowhere to be seen as he plummeted through the air, flipping over and over and over again. He found himself screaming as he reached for a Pokeball on his belt, fumbling for the button.<p>

Dusknoir erupted from the ball in a flash of light, catching West almost bridal style. He didn't care how weak this whole thing made him look, all that mattered was he was safe.

"Thanks for the save, Dusknoir." West smiled appreciatively, giving the ghost type Pokemon an affectionate pat on the head. Dusknoir made a noise that showed it was obviously proud of itself and happy that West was safe.

And then the blast of lightning hit Dusknoir. It let out a loud cry of pain as it tumbled to the fortress. The two of them crash landed hard on the top of the fortress. West was thrown from Dusknoir's grip, skidding and rolling along the hard metal. His hands scrambled for a hold as he drew closer and closer to the edge, managing to latch on to a small dent in the roof. His legs dangled in the open air, panic flowing through the young boy. He scrambled against the side of the fortress, his feet managing to get a decent enough hold.

"Ow.." West groaned, a wet stream slipping from his forehead into his right eye, clouding his vision. Pain shot from his right side as he pulled himself onto the roof, sucking in oxygen as much as he could. Each one felt like daggers into his ribs.

As soon as he looked up, he could see Regirock standing above him, lights flashing. A whole new wave of panic shot through him and he jumped to his feet, a gust of wind almost knocking him over the side again. Regirock took a step forward, its heavy feet denting the surface beneath it.

West had his next Pokemon out before Regirock could prepare another attack. Swampert slammed into the legendary full force, the two massive power houses struggling against each other. With a heave of its mighty arms, Swampert had thrown Regirock through the air. It crashed down almost twenty feet away, standing up quickly enough.

"Hydro pump!" West called out, the wind nearly drowning out his voice. Swampert heard it perfectly though, firing the torrent from its mouth. The attack smashed into Regirock, knocking the heavy Pokemon over onto its back again. "Awesome!"

Two massive hands suddenly wrapped around West, lifting him high into the air. Before he could even register what had happened he had been body slammed onto the hard steel below him. He gasped out, staring up at the massive figure of Registeel. Pain shot through him, along with fear. Two of the Regis at once?!

"Having fun?" West flinched at the voice, trying to crane his head. His eyes snapped open as his gaze fell onto his brother. Brendan stood maybe ten feet away, a smug look on his face. His eyes were the same stormy grey as West's, but there was a malice in them.

Fury filled West as he tried to climb to his feet, but Registeel held him down with the force of a toppled fridge. He was stuck under it. Brendan walked over, grabbing at West's sleeve, ripping it off his arm. The Eon mark shone a soft blue, the same as the sky.

"My own brother.. An Eon bearer. Its incredible. I always believed that, if it was going to be one of us, it would be me. You see, I found the scripture detailing the Eon bearers when you were about two. There are only two Eon bearers in existence every five hundred years. And when they appear, do you understand the significance?!

"The Eon bearers are the world's guardians! They protect us from Deoxys! That's why they appear every half century. Deoxys breaks free of Jirachi's hold and comes to our world, destroying just about everything in its path. That's why you're here. Without you, our world will fall!"

"Then why are you trying to stop me?!" West snapped, anger building up like a flamethrower inside of him. He was seeing red, and not just because of the blood in his eye.

"Because. I'm going to capture Deoxys. Why leave all that power unused?! I mean, come ON! A massive super power like that?! We NEED it! That's why I'm doing this! I'm going to make it mine!" Brendan snapped, a deranged look on his face. His voice was high pitched, cracking on almost every word. "Deoxys will be my ultimate weapon. And then, then, I can do what Maxie and Archie never could! This world will be mine! None of these people were worth saving, all those years ago! They're all corrupt, horrible pieces of flesh!

"I can be their guiding light! I can show them the way, show them exactly what should be done! They need direction! If they don't have it, then they'll destroy themselves! So I'm here to protect them from that! I'm here to show them what it is they should do! Turn them i-"

"Into your slaves," West finished harshly, his eyes narrowing more than could be thought possible. Brendan glared at him angrily, like he was insulted. Brendan stepped forward, Registeel's grip loosening instantly. Brendan snatched him by the collar, lifted him up, and drove his fist into his jaw. West hit the ground, spitting out a mixture of saliva and blood. "Bastard.."

"Oh no! Not my slaves! I'm going to be their sheperd! Show them the best way to live their lives! I'm about saving them, not enslaving them!" Brendan shouted, but the wind was almost muting him. The clouds were starting to darken, giving their battlefield an evil feel.

"You really believe that don't you? That you're doing the right thing? You really are one of them. A sick bastard who wants nothing more than to make the world his. You aren't satisfied by the world. You think it's sick. So you want to become some tyrannical dictator! You're nothing but a low down good for nothing and a shame to our family!" That set him off. Brendan gave West a hard kick to the jaw, flipping him over and onto his back.

Before West got the chance to recover, Brendan's hands were around his throat. He was lifted into the air, dangling him in the open air. West clutched at Brendan's arms, flailing in a panic. He began hacking, fighting for breath, his hands slapping weakly against Brendan's cheeks.

"Now, little brother, if I can kill you.. Deoxys cannot be stopped. I can capture it and it will be mine! I will be the one to save them! I will make everyone listen to me! To do as I say! And you. Will. Die!" He let go. West dropped like a rock through the air, speeding towards the ground. The fortress drew further and further out of sight, almost a speck in the air.

West flipped over and over again, grabbing at his arm. "Come on, you great big antisocial jackaas! Help me out with this!" As soon as the words left his mouth the Eon mark erupted into light, a comet of blue energy hurling towards West.

He landed on Latios' back, clutching at its skin. He panicked a bit, screaming and burying his head into Latios' back. "Thank you.. Thank you.."

Latios nodded at him before speeding upwards, charging right at the fortress. The winds cut into West's cheeks. His hand snapped back to his backpack, pulling open the top and clutching something inside.

The look of surprise on Brendan's face was priceless as West came over the side of his ship. West leaped off of Latios, landing with both feet on the ship. He gripped the hat he held tightly before pulling it over his head, mahogany hair ruffling under it. He wore Brendan's hat, eyes narrowed at the brow.

"Well, that definitely brings back memories.. Why'd you bring that old thing along with you?" Brendan asked, reaching for his belt. Both of West's other Pokemon were unconscious, leaving him with only four. The Regis were nowhere in sight. West didn't even bother to question it.

"A hero always has a hat." West smirked, digging his heels in at another gust of wind. Brendan took a Pokeball from his belt, enlarging it.

"Then hand it over."

"Take it from me, Brendan. You're just another criminal. So lets settle this the way you did all those years ago." The two didn't hesitate. Both had a Pokemon out before taking a breath. Heracross on West's side, Glalie on Brendan's.

"Brick break!" Heracross shot forward, smashing its glowing fist down onto Glalie's forehead. The ice ball Pokemon hit the ground, bouncing in the air before righting itself. Heracross was skidding on its feet, turning to face its opponent.

"Ice beam!"

"Protect!" The white beam connected with Heracross' shield, the attack flying off in different directions. It dragged across the roof in various places, causing trails of ice to follow it. "Now, mega horn!" Heracross charged like a manic tauros, its horn shining a bright gold.

"Giga impact!" Glalie met Heracross in midair, a thick cover of orange energy covering it. The attacks collided and erupted into a massive explosion, coating the roof in a thick layer of smoke. West strained his eyes, trying to look through when it happened.

Sceptile burst from the smoke, its fist buried into West's stomach. He gasped, blood forcing its way up his throat and out his mouth in a violent cough. He dropped to his knees, clutching his abdomen, trembling. He couldn't breathe. His lungs were just refusing to work.

A blast of energy smashed into Sceptile's back, sending it skidding. The grass type was knocked out already, eyes swirled. Latios descended in front of West, screeching angrily. West's vision was swimming, shifting from left to right over and over again.

"Latios.. Incredible.." Brendan marveled, stepping forward. Latios snarled loudly at the evil mastermind, a bright blue ball forming in its mouth. Brendan stepped back cautiously, a small smirk playing on his lips. "You're exactly where I want you. I can destroy you right now." With a click of a button hidden in his sleeve, three panels opened up behind him. The Regis all rose from it, dots flashing over and over. They were ready for a battle.

"Latios.. We can't win.." West whispered, finally finding his voice. He was bruised, beaten and broken. Brendan had him completely out matched. No wonder he was the one who saved Hoenn so long ago. But if West didn't stop him.. Then everything would be undone. "We have to run.."

"Too bad. All three of you, zap cannon!" The three Regis all lifted their arms, balls of electricity forming in between them. Brendan began laughing maniacly, sure of his victory. Latios latched its arms onto West's shoulders, taking off with him into the air. The three attacks fired but Latios weaved between them expertly, taking absolutely no damage.

"Circle around to Brendan!" West shouted and Latios obliged. It spun towards Brendan, flying at almost mach speed. Latios knew what West wanted to do, so once he was close enough, it let him go. West dropped onto Brendan with both feet, launching the two of them over the side and into the open air.

They fell, clutching to each other, as if that would save them. Brendan was panicking, his eyes wide as dinner plates. The ground was drawing closer and closer, rushing up to meet them. They were falling towards what looked like Petalburg city. Brendan suddenly flipped the two over so West was beneath him. They were heading straight for the water. If they hit, West would be the one to get the worst of it.

"Either way, little brother, I win!" Brendan snapped, laughing still. West didn't care. He knew the fall would be enough to kill them both, no matter who hit first. As long as Brendan was stopped, that didn't matter.

"No, big brother, you don't. We both lose." West closed his eyes, knowing impact was only seconds away. Latios wouldn't be able to move fast enough to meet him, to catch him. It was all over.

He heard the splash before he felt it. In fact, he didn't feel it. He didn't hit anything. He opened his eyes slowly to see a red version of Latios, smiling gleefully at him. "Latias..?"

"God, you are so stupid!" A voice snapped from on its back. Amelia was there, holding him by one arm, tears in her eyes. West stared at her, disbelieving. She had saved him. How?! "Gardevoir's teleport, dumbo."

"Did you just read my mind?"

"No, I just know you." She smiled, lifting West up and on to Latias' back. Latios descended to float next to them, shooting Latias a gleeful look. West gave Amelia a soft kiss on the cheek, turning his attention to the ground below. Brendan's body was floating face down in the water. West took the hat off and dropped it, letting it land on his brother's back.

Then the sky split open. The clouds burst away from each other, showing off something that looked alot like an aurora. The ribbons of multi colored light stretched for miles upon miles upon miles. The winds picked up, tearing trees up by their roots. Shingles flew from houses, windows shattered. The water from the pond washed up onto the shores, raising up almost like a tower. Water from nearby lakes were doing the same, spiralling towards the sky.

A form began to descend from the aurora, what both West and Amelia knew could only be one thing. Its body was an orange with blue-greyish highlights for its face and underside of its hands. A bright purple gem stone shone in its chest, psychic energy covering its entire body.

Deoxys.

The alien Pokemon raised its hands, a blue veil of light covering the city. It dropped its hands and, in a single second, Petalburg was no more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: okay, so, this story has just two chapters left! That's it, only two, maybe three depending on if I split the battle with Deoxys into two chapters. So, please send me your opinion on the whole West Brendan showdown! It wasn't much of a Pokemon battle, I know, but I felt it was more about them than their Pokemon. Remember, as always, review, review, review!**


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